After-school activities - By Terissa Vital

Written By: Terissa vital

Category: Short horror story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

Terissa Vital, a participant in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, hails from an undisclosed country and brings us a chilling short horror story titled "After-school activities." This compelling narrative delves into the eerie experiences of a group of students held back in detention, exploring themes of fear, authority, and the supernatural. The competition, organized by Hashtag Kalakar, showcases creative talents from around the globe, inviting writers to share their unique voices and stories.

About the Work

"After-school activities" by Terissa Vital is a haunting tale set in the mundane environment of school detention, where the ordinary quickly turns sinister. Through vivid imagery and a suspenseful narrative, Vital explores the claustrophobic atmosphere of authority gone awry. The story's chilling mood is enhanced by its dark, supernatural elements, drawing readers into a world where reality blurs with nightmarish visions. The tension builds as the protagonist faces both inner and outer demons, ultimately leading to a gripping climax.

After-school activities

Original Submission by Terissa vital

After School activities

A short fictional horror story by Terissa Vital.

Natalie was discontented that Yet another after-school hour was stripped away from her. All because of a lighthearted joke that went over the teacher’s head.

Nothing new with that. The girl was used to it by now: These restless hours that would stretch on eternally as she would be seated in some unnamed class amongst other unnamed children. With the words ‘Detention’ smeared in white jagged fonts at the centre front of the board.

These stolen hours, however, could have been used for much more substantial things. Such as loafing around the house for the rest of the evening. Until come-morning, when her sleep would be disrupted, an abrupt indication to head on to school all over again. A viscous cycle that was yet to be broken. Such as the accursed spinning wheel from folklore's written by names long forgotten through time.

The effects of school on the mind and body of a fourteen year old girl was anything if not daunting. Heavy on the soul it was. Lacking in any remorseful qualities to be cherished by these children. Not to say that education was neglected by them - their sole flaw was petulance, stupidity was not to be considered.

Nevertheless, the bell dismissed the rest of the school as the five band of bandits were the only ones that was held back. Six!, including Natalie.

She and the others were now lined up in the empty hallway with their heads hung low, as if an invisible iron chain weighted them down. Resembling more of prison cellmates, than mere school pupils.

The silence that held them captive, were often times disrupted by the squeaks released from the soles of their rubber sneakers. Dragging their feet as they entered the designated classroom. Creating a teeth grinding pitch that eroded Mrs Reed’s ears as they slid onto the ceramic tiling.

“Hurry now, I don’t want to stand here all evening.” The old crook glanced at her watch with her pupils peeking from underneath her shriveled eyelids.

“Two evenings wasted in a week!” mumured the lady to herself. “And lift our feet while we’re are at it!” she scolded. Sweeping a demeaning gaze over each one of them. Until Natalie - the last in the line up, showed up. Her glare deepened into a morose black, as if they could cut through the girls ivory skin, or puncture her even.

Natalie’s mouth quivered. This was noticed by Mrs Reed.

“Is there anything funny now?” asked the lady. In fact there was something humorous to be found in that situation, because Natalie was face to face with the reason behind her detention. Mrs Reed had a percuilar appearance indeed. The fact that she was old and leaning like a tower was enough to attract unnecessary comments from others, or ‘jokes’ as some of the students would imply - Natalie happened to be one of those students.

“No, Mrs Reed.” She almost blew her cover. Another daunting glare was given to the girl, those pinning eyes scanning her body, from head to toe . Analyzing them as she was about to be incarcerated.

“Enter , now,” ordered the hunchback, finally.

She, like the other five before her endured these repugnant orders. However, Natalie’s entrance into the room was made whilst still wholeheartedly trying to hold herself together. Suppressing her laughter from an abrupt escape.

Nonetheless, the amusement was short lived. The tawny headed girl reverted back to her previous brooding as soon as she paved the pathway barricaded by old chairs and rusty metal desks, in the space where her next five hours were to be spent. A dull low ceiling confinement of a classroom.

“This is probably where all the ‘special Ed kids’ have class,” a boy whispered to another. Their laughter's were abruptly cut short by Mrs Reed sudden appearance. A brass colored ruler was unsheathed from her skirt pocket and was struck upon Vincent’s table from the back row. Clapping like lightning as it did so.

“I can’t hit you…..” said Mrs reed, ominously. “But if I must, then there’s no one to stop me. do you understand?” the ruler sat underneath the warmth of the boy’s chin. Not a response was given from him as they met each others gaze. His, being the first to break away from her’s.

The silence that followed was interpreted as a bold affirmative by Mrs Reed. Her bent back slithered up into position. Not in a perfect posture, but in a stance where her neck always peeked out of her shirt like a turtle’s shell.

Her nose pointed to her wrist, the hours beneath the lens of the watch read three thirty on them in bold, black pigmented fonts.

Her wrist lowered as to make a brief announcement.

“As you were made aware of, you shall be dismissed at eight, or eight thirty, depending on your willingness to behave. I, myself take no pleasure in this. Just as everyone else, I too wished to have some time of my own. But it might as well be impossible with the lot of you!” she strolled at the centre front of the classroom. Swirling a cursive ‘detention’ on the milky half cleaned board.

“The disciplinary methods from when I was a child were indeed….. barbaric to put it at that, Nevertheless, they worked. Nowadays, it seems that you children can get away with murder. You’ve manage to overpower us the adults, not a soul desires to put up with you gremlins! ….not even I, in all of my temper.

Not that I condone these primitive ways of discipline, but more often than not, the nail only bends at the wielding of a hammer”.

The chalk moaned as it was pressed onto the board in violent motions by Mrs Reed.

Bonnie covered her ears as a form of protest. “I take joy in my work,” the lady implied. “But every instant of passion I’ve gained over the years has been sucked dry from me.” The writing had come to an end “So bare with me. If you want to assure an early release. Then just behave for these past remaining five hours.”

To ask a herd of fourteen year olds to behave was an act of bravery in itself. It served her no good to beg. Her wishes were bound to be broken by them as always.

Passing the board, to reach the desk at the other end of the room. A piercing heat evaporated from the side of her neck. The lady searched for the sources of her distress which originated from a stout boy from the back of the class that was eyeing her.

Not with malice of course, but that was a good enough reason for Mrs Reed to order him to move to the front and sit right at her desk. A wooden table barely standing on its own, propped into the corner of the class. The wood from its legs was rotting and porous from the presence of termites. Rodrick rolled onwards to that particular seat, nevertheless. Although his name was memorable in itself, most of the kids just referred to him as him ‘Piggy’ depending on the day. The name as to no surprise were firstly intended to demean the boy’s robust physique. This was the case since junior high and these taunts carried on into his first year of high school.

However, overtime the significance of that derogatory term changed entirely after most kids came to realize how much of a likeable person he was .

‘Piggy’ possessed the sort of charm rarely seen in people like him, because usually that was all gifted to the tall blonde boys part of the football team.

Nevertheless, there was no sort of secret animosity between him and these boys. They were fond of him also.

His reasons behind being in detention was kept anonymous to the others. His facetious habit was most likely to be blamed. Not so different from Natalie. But even so, a precise reason was left unresolved by the others. As a result his presence was accepted as it was.

As reprimands for his scornful gaze, ‘Piggy’ was handed some blank lined papers to write his name accordingly to them. Filling the fronts and backs of it until his fingers would run sore. If it wasn’t so obnoxious, Mrs Reed would have wholeheartedly punished the boy for breathing through his mouth instead of his nostrils.

“You there!” she referred to Natalie who was still searching for Bonnie as a way to seat at her table. Mrs Reeds chin jutted to the seat before Bonnie and Iva’s. There, where Adelaide sat fiddling with the tips of her fingers. Coercing Bonnie and Natalie to be separated.

Natalie grumbled her way there. Pulling a chair seemingly out of thin air, and lunged her weight onto the wooden surface. Knowing Adelaide, that particular evening was going to hum Natalie to sleep. Being so far from Bonnie anyways had the same effects on her.

Adelaide rarely spoke as most of them were aware of. Never had the courage to meet someone eles's gaze, and found it best to remain hidden beneath the cloak of her ebon hair. Sleek and glistening with grease like a horse’s mane. Her left eye would peek out through the veils of it from time to time, the tip of her nose would always follow if that was the case. But for now, the contrary proceeded.

It was safe to say that complying until the end of the session was the rational route to take. However, Natalie’s detest for authority was more prominent than her ability to comply. Averting from the likeness to be ordered around was her utmost goal in life, so naturally, the time that was robbed from her would be paid off if she could get away with her usual antics.

As retaliation, a plan was crafted that would surely come in hand to rescue her from monotony. Patiently, she waited as a few minutes passed by.

After twenty minutes or so, her freckled arm rose.

“Mrs Reed!” the girls voice echoed throughout the room.

The teacher glared at her from beneath the rims of her glasses. Tilting over an old newspaper she had picked up from the desk, the words poured over the table.

“Can I use the restroom please?”

“No,” the lady was quick to answer. The spine of the paper was fanned to sit upright once again. “There will be no such things,” She spoke into the journal. “Children are scheming little creatures. God knows what you’re going to do over there.”

“But….. but I really must go…”

“My saying is final. No means no!” the toad spat at her, venomous were the spit spraying from her teeth.

Natalie’s arm dropped to the table in a similar motion to a deceased flag pole. As a result an abrupt slapping sound reverberated onto its surface. The crater created by Iva’s intertwined arms, where her head rested, was abandoned entirely. The blue headed girl rose from them like a cadaver from the grave, breaking her from sleep as the sound stabbed into her eardrums. For the rest of the hour she remained as such.

Another moments of silence was spared amongst the kids as the clock from ahead ticked continuously. In the hours that passed monotony was inspired in each one of them. Sleep although pervasive during those times was prohibited by the authoritarian figure. As a result they were drained twice as much than before, and the walls that surrounded them seemed to decay by each swing of the clock arm.

A girl from behind kissed her teeth, making a loud smack that shook Natalie’s bones senselessly. That was Bonnie with her wrist beneath her nose. Checking the time as if the rims of her watch was laced with some addictive substance. Her mouth opened to the ceiling, releasing a groaning sigh as she did so.

Moreover, another sound broke the silence enough to siphon the attention of each one of them. A grating screech from a chair as its legs were pushed back against the cold concrete floor. It was Mrs Reed as the students came to see it.

She too released a repulsive sigh “I must be excused students.” Her shriveled palms lifted her body upwards upon the desk “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

“Where to, Mrs Reed?.” The question posed by Rodrick turned her pallid skin to a faint red

“The restroom,” she said in a diffident tone as the lens of her glasses fogged up out of embarrassment. Although tenacity proceeded as a relevant part of Mrs Reed’s psyche, It was an undeniable fact that at the end of the day she was still old and slowly withering away. Old age had caught up to her as it was well visible, her weak bladder was one of the few symptoms of that.

She limped to the door.

A final glare was spared to the kids as a warning, right through the opening crack of the doorway, where white blinding lights seeped through. Hovering over her gaunt face like a halo. For the most part, the students were a herd of saints sitting beneath the silhouette of her shadow from the door. Not knowing that underneath their semblance of innocence these kids were dying for her to leave already.

She squinted at them as the rest of her face dissolved beyond the lights behind her. Twisting the knob firmly as the metal pieces from them clanged. Finally pulling the door shut.

“This chair is uncomfortable,” complained ‘Piggy’.

“Maybe because you don’t fit on it,” Vincent spoke into the ceiling. A remark that was met with silence.

“Wow. I must say, its quite odd to see you here.” Resumed Rodrick as an approach was made by him. His shadow cast over them like an eclipse.

“...Who?…me?!” Iva’s eyes roamed from behind to assure that she was being referred to.

“No. Her!” his stubby fingers pointed to the anomaly. All them twisted their heads to face Adelaide now, watching as her hair spilled over her face like oil. Shielding her from the sight of the others: As long as they were unseen, they didn’t exist. “You do know how to talk , right?”

“It’s very unlikely,” Vincent interrupted yet again. His pubescent voice pitching into a squeak from time to time, although he was good at covering it up with instances of pretending to cough as he spoke. Such as now whilst they were muffled into the sleeves of his tangerine hoodie.

“You can’t say that to her face.”

“But it’s the truth.”

“Well its not nice.”

“Pfft!” the orange boy blew. “Whatever…” shortly after, the ceiling called onto his name, to which he faced it as before with his neck rested at the top back of the chair. The eyes that were pinned upon him evaporated in an instant - they were now all fixed on the strange girl.

“I see you in the halls all the time you know.” Rodrick brushed off the invisible specks of dust from his shirt. His right palm stretched out to her after he did so. A gesture of an unlikely acquaintance in the making

“My name is-”

“I know what your name is,” whispered the Orphic. Her voice was frigid and daint such as the quiet breeze before the coming of a storm.

“Oh!” the boy’s palm retracted.

Adelaide's cheek acne peeked out slightly through the opening of her side bang. Intending to garner space for her words to slip through. However, it was silence she reverted to, naturally. The same couldn’t be said for Rodrick.

“You don’t talk much….. strange for you to be here of all people.”

“Apparently I should keep on minding my own business. That’ll do me some good. At least that is what I’ve been told.”

“What?, you?!. Why would anyone say that to you?. For all we know that should have been said to him.” ‘Piggy’s’ soft chin pointed to Vincent who was still gazing at the ceiling as if stars were pinned to them.

“But that was what I was told …..”

“By who?. What happened?.”

“You want to know?” a chair was pulled from beside him. ‘Piggy’ sat with his chin propped up on the back of it, like those radical characters from movies he had seen more times than he could count.

“By all means, yes.” Tints of flesh pink separated the lines in Adelaide’s hair, her lips peeked through, begging to speak.

At long last, her face bloomed through the opening of them. A reveal that was well anticipated by the others. Most notably, Iva as her eyes widened by the sight of her face.

“Ew,” Vincent whispered to himself, a comment that was erased from their minds eventually.

“Mr Ali….Mr Ali from art class. He advised me to remain passive about the things that comes about. He said that it was best for others if I did so, and the rule goes both ways: what is beneficial for others is good for me too.”

“Yeah, But why though?”

“.…… Because of some potraits I’ve made.”

“Portraits?……..you’re kidding right?,” Vincent added, not that his opinions of the matter was asked. “It must have been some really graphic stuff. Mr Ali is not fond of that type of art, you know. Anything that creates a focal point around blood, gore and guts. He reckons that it is responsible for the collapse of society as a whole, that barbarism and deviancy is tolerated because we’re surrounded by it, even in the ‘art world’ as he would put it. Like some sort of propaganda being pushed on to keep us divided an violent,” Vincent chuckled into the air. “It makes sense come to think of it, maybe that’s why you’re here. Because of your lack of taste.”

“Not really. The portrait was anything but graphic. However, it did rub others in the wrong way.”

“The others?” Rodrick inquired.

“The other kids in art class.” A pause from her. “They wanted to know what I painted, and I explained it to them. It was safe to say that they weren't too fond of it…… but that isn't the actual reason to why I am here you see, think of the portrait as some sort of catalyst to my punishment or a greater doom that is oncoming to me.

Amongst the kids I was talking to about the portrait, Connor happened to be within the pack at the time. You might know him, he’s really an all around guy. Kind off like you,” she referred to Rodrick.

“Yeah. I talked to him once” he responded as he gaped.

“Well…… his mother came to school two weeks ago.”

“Oh yeah. I remember!. Everyone could hear her halter from the other side of the school. She seemed pretty upset about something, don’t know what though,” Iva interrupted, enthusiastically.

Odd, it was for them as she hadn’t joined the conversation since they’ve started speaking. As consequence for her ungodly timing the blue headed girl cracked a crooked smile as to save her from the embarrassment.

“So as I was saying. His parents were not in the slightest happy about anything as she would put it.” Their heads twisted to face Iva yet again. “Eventually, His mother and I came into contact. She found me standing next to the dispenser sink…… where I usually hang out. She then began to yell at me, I was unaware to why at that time, and it was so early in the morning, I had just woken up like everybody else not more than half an hour before. The situation did not deceased in the slightest nor had it the intention to, any time sooner. Her blood was boiling with fire and the intensity to which she spoke brought me to tears. Not that I wanted anyone to see me like that at that moment, but nonetheless, we were surrounded, and the situation worsened as she reached out to grab me. All that however, came to an end when Mr Ali appeared and all three of us were taken to the principals office.

An explanation was asked of her. A rageful fit was given as a response.

She told me that Connor was unable to sleep at night, she said that he saw it peeking through his bedroom window.”

“Who?.” Adelaide sat in the company of her own silence. Her body electrified with convulsions as an answer refused to break from her lips.

“The….the thing from my portrait.” Vincent released a faux gasp from behind as his usual ways of mockery, loud enough to disrupt every one of them, even Bonnie and Natalie who had separated from the group long before the conversation began.

“What do you have to say now?” Rodrick baited him. Vincent scoffed at Rodrick's intention to in the first place. The rim metal of his braces shimmered as he sneered.

“Nothing. I think the same should go for you all.”

“Why?. Don’t tell me you’re scared now.” A pause lingered.

“Of what?!” Vincent’s eyes squinted at Rodrick’s gaze, having analyzed the tone of deceit behind his voice, ‘Piggy’ abandoned the banter all together, besides there was better things to get at with Adelaide’s story.

“Don’t entertain him, he’s just bored. Come on, and then what happened?”

“She said that his nightly distress has been the case since a week prior to our fight. In the same week that I happened to unfold the portrait to him.

He is terrified to be on his own, so much so that he wets his own bed at night because of it-” Vincent chuckled into the ceiling. “Connor doesn’t sleep in his own room anymore…. he goes to bed with his parents every night now……. but not his little sister though, she sleeps on her own just fine….. well, she use to.”

“What?, she saw the man from the portrait too?,” asked Iva, with her Kandi arm bracelets clattering on the table as she leaned towards Adelaide. For a moment Adelaide’s eyes dimmed to what seemed to be an episode of gloominess, however the case, she was quick to recover from it as she continued to speak.

“You can say that, and it wasn’t a man that I painted in that picture. It was an insect, the green ones that look like leaves.”

“A praying mantis?” Iva inquired.

“Oh please!” moaned Vincent, his antics having no intention to stop at any time, in fact the more Adelaide spoke, the more delirious with laughter he became.

“Can you stop?!” Iva twisted in her chair to face him.

“Why should I?. Don’t tell me you believe her.”

“Well……. why not?.”

“A praying mantis?. Is that what that Connor boy saw outside his window, that’s what made him wet his bed?.” He scoffed at that, seeming as a way of mockery, however his laughs came out bitterly.

“It wasn’t just a praying mantis you know….. it was huge, life sized even, with some of its features resembling that of a person. But it was not a person…… I don’t know what they are.”

A clattering sound broke their eyes from her. The three of them turned their heads to face the source of it. Excluding Vincent, of course. For a moment the walls caved into itself as a raw chill swept its way into the classroom. Strange it was, since the room itself had no windows for any sort of ventilation. The frosty air pinched into their skin, Iva grew pale from the interference; she cracked a crooked smile to save herself from something way more harrowing than embarrassment this time.

“I’m done with this.” Vincent’s eyes rolled as a way to erase the story from his mind.

“Connor wouldn’t utter a word during that conference. Even if he was begging to speak, the words didn’t come to him, as if he was muted by the encounter. His worries were plastered all over his face, it wasn’t hard to see that he had been through a lot, as a result the blame placed on me was nothing if not justified.

Principal Harper interpreted it as covert bullying, she too was convinced by the narrative that I had been implanting these ideas in him from the week prior to that meeting.

I know for a fact that all that he could recall were these bulbous ochre marble eyes glistening at him from beneath the latch of his bedroom window……. it was reflected in his own gaze whilst we were sat in the principal's office, a distant stare as if he could see through time and space in itself, or as if his eyes were searching through a bottomless pit, sunken into the parts where light ceased to linger. He also reminded me of those shell-shocked soldiers back from war as we were taught in history class. There was nothing behind those distant gaze, although he was wholeheartedly trying to find his way back into his own body. Nevertheless, for the meantime he just sat there still and cemented to the chair, forcing himself to blink or break from his curse, the movements that he did showcase seemed painful however. After the meeting, Mr Ali endorsed me to keep my mouth shut about the commotion that had just taken place, and any chance of me to defend myself was stripped away entirely, because when I did speak, I was sort out to be a terrible liar. It was better that way, to remain silent and unopinionated about everything. Not only that, but I was nothing more than a deceptive bully in their eyes now.”

“That’s messed up,” remarked ‘Piggy’.

“It is……..but, you want to know something more messed up?” the cold chill from before ran across their faces.

“What?” ‘Piggy’s’ snub nose leaned in towards her, the same was mimicked by Iva.

“Connor’s little sister hasn’t come back home since last week.”

A heavy silence settled. The room was suffocating with it, as the powdery greens from the walls corroded into a dark gray.

‘Piggy’s’ lips quivered in gentle motions. Preparing to spread as in to say something in response to Adelaide’s daunting revelation. In spite of his attempts, his rock lips stiffened, sealing them shut as a whole.

“Apparently, I’m a suspect. There is an investigation newly opened on the girls dissapearnce, with that being said…” Adelaide’s shoulder shivered “It is easier to falsely accuse someone when matters of the unknown comes to play. I am being blamed for something I had no part in, and there’s no where else to point the finger because the explanations we do have doesn’t even makes sense in the first place.”

“Serves you right!” Squeaked Vincent from afar. He forced a cough into his fist as Rodrick and Iva turned to look at him. “Serves you right,” he repeated with a semblance of nonchalance.

“Ugh!” this was Iva “Ignore him. He’s scared.”

“I don’t care about you stories.”

“What are you going to do now?” Rodrick inquired to Adelaide. A pathetic shrug was given to him as a response. “Well, I believe you. Not the grasshopper or whatever part, but there's no way you had something to do behind Connor’s little sister’s disappearance.”

“Do you think it serves me a purpose when I am told that my stories are nothing but imaginary?.”

“No!, that’s not what I-”

“Would you believe me if I told you that Connor’s mother was telling truth?. That even I too saw the same creature once…..” the colors of Iva’s lips depleted completely.

“I don’t know what to say-”

“Do me a favour. Would you?.”

“ …….I mean, sure.” Rodrick was tongue tied.

“If you have nothing to say, then it is best to keep at that…… to say nothing at all. You can believe whatever you like, that is fine by me. But calling me a liar comes with the cost of finding out the truth later on.”

“But I didn’t call you that….” his gaze lowered.

“That’s why I am here. Now you know the truth.” The curtains of black hair closed once again, finally the room was allowed to breath as before.

Despite the sudden disappearance of Connor’s little sister, not a word was heard about the situation, not even by their parents, that is, if they even knew to begin with. Come to think of it the electric poles from across the school or within the areas of the town remained ridden by old teared papers or washed out spray painted graffiti, but not one of them had the notice of a missing child poster. Safe to say that it was all being kept as a secret investigation. In the meantime, after following the timeline of the story told by Adelaide, Iva came to realize that Connor hasn’t showed up to school either ever since his little sister’s disappearance. For all she knew this might have been the last time that he would ever come back to school ever again, his parents were definitely not holding up to the news of their missing daughter in any good way. If the case remained the same, or abandoned due to unwanted circumstances, then, starting life anew somewhere else out of town by next year wouldn’t seem too irrational for them.

In the midst of their conversations. Bonnie and Natalie were clustered up in their own corners. Having seen Rodrick changed seats, Natalie took that as inspiration to also move away from where she was originally placed, crawling back to Bonnie’s desk like the blind devotee she was.

There, uninterrupted by the others, their new formidable plan was crafted for once Mrs Reed made a return.

“So here’s the gist, right. Take this.” A plastic water bottle was handed to Natalie with its surface dripping with glacial dew, cold enough to freeze the veins inside of her naked palms. “Eventually, Mrs Reed will come back. God knows when!” she expressed after realizing that the lady had been gone for nearly thirty minutes by now. “When she does…… well, you see Adelaide over there.” Natalie’s neck unscrewed to face the girl. Adelaide was not too far off from them, but not close enough to spy on their scheme’s.

“.….yeah.” Natalie hesitated.

“Before Mrs Reed comes, I want you to pour the water on her.”

“But, why though?. I mean, even if pouring the water over her head would be for shits and giggles, that’ll only get us in so much more trouble later on, potentially another detention session.”

“Not on her head,” Bonnie annoyingly elaborated. “I want you to pour the water down on her trousers. That way, there will be nothing holding Mrs Reed back from allowing Adelaide to go to the restroom. Especially if it was the case that a student pissed herself because they weren’t permitted to go for restroom breaks.”

“But how does that come in hand for us?.”

“Having her guard let down. She’ll tolerate us to go to the restroom too. But that’s just a facade really, because were not actually going to the restroom. We’ll be taking a stroll around the school, that way we can break free from being trapped in here all evening long and maybe come back in the last hour to compensate for bailing out during detention.” She took the words out of Natalie’s mouth.

“But, we’ll ask to leave only after Adelaide’s done. Do you understand?.”

“…..Yeah….yeah, why not?. Besides.” A chuckled stuck in her throat was released “There’s really nothing to do in here….. and Adelaide wouldn’t mind. There is nothing to convince her to care about anything at all, besides water dries, so there's nothing to make a fuss about.”

“Exactly,” Bonnie agreed as if to shut the girl up.

After a few minutes, when the class was back to its prior silences overlapping with the nerve wrecking ticking of the clock. The water bottle began to thaw in-between Natalie's grip as she strangled it with tremors of anticipation.

“ Okay….anytime now,” Bonie endorsed.

“ …..should I do it?”

“Yes!, quick.” In spite of already rehearsing the plan ten thousand times in her head, Natalie was still hesitant to take action.

The minutes were fleeting by like soaring birds with their wings set aflame. But even so, the girl remained glued to her seat. Waiting for another second to pass by. Shaking in her sneakers as she did so.

“Come on Natalie.” A sharp voice whispered.

“Wait….. I’m not ready yet!”

“Well, you need to hurry, before Mrs Reed comes back. Now!. Now!” The chair screeched as it was liberated from Natalie’s weight. Blank-headed, the girl marched on towards her victim. Panting and huffing into her own chest as a way to disguise the approach. With her heart thumping endlessly as her fingers wriggled to the sound of their rhythm.

She made it to Adelaide, towering from behind her with the water bottle in one hand and the bottle cap in the other. Iva was at the edge of questioning her sudden ominous presence. An inquiry that never ceased to leave her lips. Having felt Bonnie’s piercing gaze digging into her skin. As a result Iva reverted to sinking her chin into the crater of her crossed arms upon the table, watching as Natalie stood frozen over Adelaide.

A faint chuckle serenaded the room from behind. Leaving space for yet another - this one being more glottal in definition, to join in assembly.

“S.h.u.t u.p!” Bonnie mouthed to the pair of gigglemuts responsible for the locomotion. The gray’s in her eyes darting at both Rodrick and Vincent as a way to get a semblance of silence between the two. Nonetheless, their facade was far from over as their laughter were muffled by the palms of one another, intertwining over each others abdomen like exotic wicker baskets.

In delay to act, Natalie’s fingers began to riot against the hesitation she held. She had never been so torn before, as indecisive as she was. However the case, her impulsiveness always overpowered her inability to decide what was best for her. One could’ve guess that with the disregard for any moral obligation that dunking the water onto Adelaide was nothing but a piece of cake, especially if it meant that everyone else would have a good laugh because of it. Nonetheless, that couldn’t be further from the truth at that moment.

The time wasted pondering about the dilemma's of morality ensued another jut from Bonnie, her chin slicing through thin air as to gesture Natalie to empty the bottle already. Natalie’s heart began to grow wings, flustered by whether or not she should follow, her body took control of the situation. The length of her arms stretched over Adelaide’s head, as to reach the front of her trousers. In a final instant, the tepid water was charged onto Adelaide’s khakis. Splashing onto her in violent ripples.

The browns in her shorts turned dark as a result.

There she sat, soaked and heavy with water. Some strands of her thin hair dripped with it. Natalie had already retracted her hands by then, the same couldn’t be said for Adelaide as she held her’s open to the ceiling, still in shock of the sudden attack.

Iva’s lips quivered. The words she was about to utter were soon lost in the back of her mind. She reverted to the comfort of the nook she had created several times with her arms.

Adelaide’s gaze slipped through a slit in-between her hair, her eyes balled at Natalie as if she was on the verge of tears. In-between the interval of the execution and the repercussion that followed, Adelaide’s gaze interlocked with Natalie’s, sharing a scornful look that burned through the latter’s skin. The others that surrounded them, soon enough began to evaporate into shadow figments in their peripheral sight. The drenched girl stared on as Natalie was pulled into the void with her. The empty water bottle began to crumble at her fingers as she strangled it whilst being confronted. It shook within her grip.

Boulder lumps of tears ran across Adelaide's face, tracing a path on her cheeks like footsteps in the sand. However, proof of their existence were quickly erased as she dragged her elbow across them to wipe them dry that way no one else would have taken notice that they were present to begin with. Her eyes were sizzling now, the reds in them penetrating through Natalie.

A muffle of cackles soon eroded Natalie's ears, as If water from her eardrums were being removed. Reality ensued as she was set free from the abyss where Adelaide and her were being held captive.

Rodrick and Vincent, suffocating from their laughter, cradled one another, forcing the air out of each other’s lungs to release more obnoxious cackles. Almost seeming painful to them as they persisted. The solemn silence that overtook Natalie was admirable. Eventually her lips began to twist towards the ceiling, all prior sentiments evaporated from her, as she too released a set of nervous laughs, which shortly shifted to a more confident tone as the two boys joined to back her up. Adelaide was surrounded, surrounded by a pack of hyenas, it would have been much better being devoured instead, she thought to herself. Nevertheless, ostracization was nothing if not farmiliar to her. Whether or not, the instances of them having spoken to her planted a seed of hope inside of the girl that maybe they were the exception to the others. Eventually, this case was bound to be proven wrong. The kids in this class, were no different from other people. Adelaide lived in a world of clones. Thus, the assumption of being well received was nonetheless just another faux-narrative of hers. A desire covered by smoke and mirrors.

A metallic sound clanged across the room. Their eyes went to the door. Having seen the showers of white light spilling over the entrance, Natalie lept to Bonnie’s table, propping herself into a proper way of seating, dusting the invisible dust from her lap.

A rogue frozen breeze whistled its way into the class, a head, as they saw it, peeked in through the crack opening of the doorway. It was Mrs Reed’s. Silence ensued as she paced her way in, in exception to the howls of wind that followed into her movements.

Strange it was the way she carried herself at that moment. The sudden chill itself was odd enough for the students to question, but something else was off that they just couldn't pin their finger to. Maybe it was the way that she was walking - stiff, cautious, calculated even. Tip toeing her way to the desk as if the back of her feet was throbbing with pain. The rest of her body would follow as her toes paved the way. Finally, some of them were able to tell that suddenly her hunched posture from before had dissipated. Her spine was now pressed and straight like a needle, this was further amplified by the way her neck was stretched towards the ceiling. As if her scalp was attached to an invisible string from above, similar to that of a puppet on strings.

Slow, steady and stiff, the lady hobbled towards her allocated destination.

Vincent's neck twisted to face ‘Piggy’; he too was as stiff as a crowbar, but for different reason’s.

“You think she won’t notice you changed seats?” asked Vincent.

“Not if I don’t move a muscle,” Rodrick spoke in the crack corner of his mouth.

“That type of stuff only works in the wild.” Vincent was left without a response.

Mrs Reed, blind to the change of seats in the class, resumed to hers with precision. Slowly, propping her body against the back of the chair. The newspaper, soon, returned to her face. Barricading it completely.

“Do it,” a sharp voice whispered.

“Hold on a sec.”

“Do it!……do it before it dries!, or else I won’t talk to you.” This was Bonnie. Natalie’s arm erected to the ceiling. Rolling her eyes simultanuously.

“Mrs Reed!” hollered the girl. The paper ceased to move over Mrs Reed’s face. Natalie’s voice strained to call once again.

“Excuse me Miss, but, I think Adelaide needs to go to the restroom…” Beside them Adelaide’s skin began to sprout with goosebumps. Those eyes, pearly with light, began to once again drown into a sea of saltiness, paralyzing her sight, not even the veils of her hair could hide them this time around.

Silence.

“.…Well?” added Natalie. An immediate response was not handed to her. Mrs Reed just sat there, enveloped in the world crafted by the pages she read through. Even if she hadn’t turned over a page ever since her arrival, as if the words were studying her instead of the other way around.

She lowered the paper at last. A reaction that came as a relief to Natalie who was dumbfounded by Mrs Reed’s sudden percuilar behaviors. The lady’s pupils which were as dark as a sunsets, darted towards Adelaide in an instant. The girl sat there, drenched and sogging from the waist below with her trousers absorbed with water.

“Leave,” she spoke into the spines of the newspaper in a calm, soothing tone. “Clean yourself up while you’re at it.” Not that what she said was a direct insult or anything, but even so, the sound of the teachers voice was enough to refill Adelaide’s eyes with tears. Her words had failed to save her before, thus, no difference was to be expected if she did stand up for herself momentarily. Meek and subservient, eyes sizzling red as her raven hair spilled over her face even more than before. Adelaide paved the way to the exit. The warm light seeping through the crack opening from outside wrapped its arms around her, that was the sole comforter farmiliar to her at that time, the water followed as she departed, leaving droplet trails from behind as proof of the path taken by the her. At last the door clanged shut, leaving the classroom swallowed, sunken and solemn.

“You shouldn’t have done that you know,” Iva whispered into her arm length sleeves. A distant chuckle ensued. This was Vincent. Another replicated, and another one soon followed after. Natalie and Iva were the only ones left ridden by silence, they watched as the other three drove themselves mad with laughter. Having its echoes bounced off into their ears, their jovial pleasures were soon cut short as the sound of a metal clash disrupted them. Their eyes darted to the entrance, a chill gust of air swirled to the door. Mrs Reed had vanished.

Silence.

Rodrick was the first to break the tension in the room, reverting to his prior obnoxious giggling.

“What’s so funny?” the blue headed girl spoke into the crevices of her arms.

“What’s not?” The chair screeched as Iva’s neck twisted to face Vincent. Her brows furrowing to the bridge of her nose, as if to pinch them in place from falling off. Naturally, a covert response was given to his question, her mouth sealed shut as she unscrewed her head back to the front.

“Didn’t know you were such a moral police,” said Bonnie.

“But, but I’m not!……. I just, I don’t think that anyone should be humiliated like that…… you know. I mean, especially when it comes to her…… these last few weeks has been hell on earth for her. I don’t think she deserves to be hated more than she already is.”

“Hate?. I don’t hate Adelaide.” Bonnie stated calmly. “None of us do. It was just a means of getting by. I mean, now Mrs Reed can give us the freedom of getting out of class for a while. Wouldn’t you like that?. Freedom?” Iva’s chin tucked into her arms once more, her eyes lowering to them. “Exactly……. so, lets just be grateful that everything is working out as planned.” A pause “Besides, I don’t get this much space to breathe at home, everyone is always in my face telling me what to do. If there is a way to get what I want, well now you know damn well that I’m gonna take advantage of it.”

“Well, your schemes comes at the cost of everyone eles's freedom, or sense of security with themselves if we were to dive into that topic.”

“I can’t be held responsible for everyone eles's feelings,” Bonnie continued.

“Yeah, like that one time in chemistry when you made Alyssa cry.”

“She wasn’t crying.”

“Not in class.”

“I don’t know what you two were talking about, but I remember it so clearly, it was before the period started, you and some other girls were cornering her, from a distance it looked like a mob group interrogating a rogue member. I was surprised that she was able to stand her ground all that time while all of you were closing in on her. If I’m not being wrong, you did mention something about ‘not coming to school tommorrow’ to her…… yeah, that was it, you told her to not show her face to school tomorrow or else.” Natalie keenly listened due to the fact that she wasn’t there during the time of that particular incident, nor was she told about it by Bonnie. “Not knowing the nature of the conversation, I would’ve assume that you wanted to fight her or something, but I didn’t know the reason for that either.”

“That’s what you get for running your mouth all around, let’s just say she had it coming.” Bonnie expressed indifferently.

“Mr Wilson finally showed up for class, you and the other unnamed gang of four girls were told to cut it off. I can see how you thought that, that interaction didn’t mean anything to her, from where I was, it was visible that her face did not quiver an inch. The bell rung and by the end of class she was still the same, aloof, collected and calm. Nevertheless, during lunch I saw in the corner of her locker rubbing her eyes frantically, and I thought to myself ‘Damn!, she must really have something stuck in there, huh’, I mean she was basically digging into her eye sockets. Naturally, I passed by her as to reach for the cafeteria, but my assumptions were proven wrong at closer lense. I took a glimpse whilst walking by only to realize that it was tears that she was rubbing off from her face. She was suffocating from them it seems. But even then, I didn’t have the strength to comfort her, so I just went to get lunch.”

“How do you even know about that?” the waves in Bonnie's hair rolled past her shoulders like sea tides.

“We’re in the same chemistry class,” Iva responded confused.

“Never saw you.”

“The front row…… I always sit at the front row.”

“Whatever.” Bonnie’s lips shaped these words, not a sound from them was heard by the others, although it was visible that she had said this.

Amongst the teens, it was well anticipated that a wave of monotonous solemnity was coming for another hit. Their expectations, however, were thrown out the window as an unexpected personage took the courage to speak.

“Say, weren't you that girl that broke the flask?. Had the teacher spiraling out of his mind.” Iva’s heart thumped by the sudden revelation. The spit in her throat dried as she was unable to speak, taking her quite a while to readjust to the sudden disturbance.

“For the record, I didn’t ‘break the flask’…… not on purpose, that is. The darn thing just happened to slip from my hands,” she finally addressed the rumor.

“And the teacher was reaaalllly mad about it.” Vincent pressed. Iva wired her arms around her abdomen, her cheeks reddened simultaneously.

“Well….well mistakes happen you know.” Her ruby nose deepened in shade, abandoning her gaze on the boy as it did so.

Vincent taunted:

“Must have been embarrassing. Mr Wilson was pretty upset about it, lost his cool; He never does that. Usually, he’s the sort of guy that could forgive anything, or let bygones be bygones. Pfft!, but that!. That! Really got him going. Called you all sort of stuff, all kinds of names that was unlocked from his hidden inventory. Really creative insults, that even I could hardly imagine, let alone, imagine someone else being humiliated as you were. But don’t be too disheartened. Turns out he has his own fair share of hardship at home. You know - with his wife. They must really despise each other, at least that is what I was able to assume by eavesdropping on one of his secret phone calls he has during break time-”

“How would you know,” her back spoke to him.

“About the marriage thing?..”

“No, about…….. about the class thing…”

Vincent's gaze lowered from the ceiling. That’s how he usually talked, with his eyes pinned somewhere else, as if he could see through the fabric of reality itself. His brow rose.

“Because I too have the same classes with the both of you.”

“You blend right into the walls,” Bonnie commented, sarcastically. She spared a chuckle to Natalie, to which the latter mimicked the same laughter, in tone and pitch. Unsure to why she was laughing in the first place.

“Why are you laughing?” Remarked Vincent, his left brow having not rested from its punctured position.

“Pfft!.” Natalie sprayed “Because its funny. I mean, learn to live a little, am I right?.”

“You call this a life?. Your purpose being ridden by subservience?”

“Whatever that means,” Natalie replied in a blink. The boy rested his coily head back once again, his throat faced the sky, preparing for his next set of words:

“You do everything she does.” The walls collapsed into itself from the awkward, abrupt answer. Something that even Natalie’s fiery spirit couldn’t keep up with. Vincent held the cards it seemed, as he always did. However, knowing Natalie her hot headed character would avert her from defeat.

She persisted.

“That’s not true……. Right?” Her head swept over each one of them for a response, none that was given to her as everyone sat silently gazing into the distance. “Yeah, well… so what?. She’s my friend……” The boy’s brow lifted higher than before, almost touching his hairline if he continued. Natalie’s mouth remained parted, tasting the fallen dust from the air. Her palms opened to catch them .

“Isn’t that right Bonnie?” She faced Bonnie now. However Bonnie’s eyes wouldn’t meet hers, they were hidden behind the threads of black that fell over her eyes. Not an effort did she put into moving them out of her face.

The room held its breath as everyone eles's eyes searched for a sort of relief from the distinct awkwardness. Luckily, Vincent had a weakness, to which Rodrick playfully pressed onto.

“So!. Why are you here, wait!. Let me guess…” His stubby fingers scratched the side of his head. “Ah!.” A light bulb lit at the side of his flat skull. “I know!. You almost got your ass kicked by those three boy’s. You were lucky you know that. If Mrs Reed hadn’t been around, then you would have been walking on all fours by now.” Everyone turned to face Vincent, all in exception to Natalie, with their jaws gaped wide open. His neck which was laid over the back of the chair had now stiffened to pull his head back up, almost popping a vein as he did.

“So?. What do you have to say about that?,” Rodrick persisted.

Vincent’s eyes rolled “I don’t like fights. I don’t care for them-”

“But you always find a way to start them.”

“I don’t start them either. I only speak the truth…. most people can’t accept the version of themselves, or the reality that they suppress…… I am nothing but a mirror. But, I guess most people can’t handle that - the truth. So they get defensive. They get violent.”

“Oh…. so that’s why you got your ass beat?” Vincent ensued a pause.

“No. Nobody got their ‘asses beat’…….” another series of silence followed after the statement, all three of them had their keenful ears pinned to what the boy was about to spew at any moment. Nevertheless, not a sound ceased to leave his mouth, his eyes, brown and mahogany averted from them, and stared off into the distance of the wall.

“What about you?” Vincent had regained the momentum to speak yet again. He addressed to Bonnie.

“Give it a break, already,” whined ‘Piggy’.

“Why are you here?”

“She already told you earlier,” Bonnie said as her head jutted towards Iva. Not knowing her name yet.

“So you did make that girl cry.”

“People cry all the time, for different reasons. How was I suppose to know if I was at fault.”

“You’re ignorant.”

“And you’re a coward….so.” Her shoulders shrugged as she terminated.

The door barged open as Mrs Reed tip toed her way back to her desk. Sitting stiffly as a dog would on the chair.

“It took her quite some time, almost twenty minutes down the drain,” Vincent whispered into the backs in front of him.

“Well, she’s very old you know. The lady’s a dinosaur, of course it’s going to take her forever to use the stall,” responded Rodrick.

“Now, now!. Let us settle down!” All five pairs of eyes lifted to look at the towering lady. She resumed in reading the papers, the chair creaked underneath her weight as she swung upon it.

“Say, Mrs Reed,” Bonnie hollered. This was followed by a subtle chuckle covered by her fingers. Turning to Natalie as she did, however Natalie’s did not meet her’s, nor did she follow in her laughs. “I think that there’s something on your face.”

“It’s the face itself, ” Vincent was quick to answer as if their prior banter was erased from his mind. His remark, surprisingly was well received by the others as a symphony of giggles was heard from neighbouring seats. Natalie being the exception as her mind was preoccupied by heavier thoughts.

Mrs Reed sat unprovoked by the insults with the paper lowered to her desk. Her expressions froze to stone as she could feel that there was indeed something on the lower parts of her face. Her bony fingers lifted to the corners of her mouth to feel its wet and warm embrace, wiping off the specimen clean, staining her fingertips red as she did so.

An empty look was given at it, her gaze gradually lifted to face the children. They too gave a somewhat blank expression, some of which were slightly curious to what she had to say next.

After what seemed to be an eternity. Mrs Reed broke free from her frozen curse. The smeared finger lifted towards the opening of her mouth. She sucked it dry, with an obnoxious popping sound as they were released from her teeth.

The room drowned in silence, but unlike before this sort of newly found quietness weighted heavily in their chests.

“Yumm!” She expressed, finally. “…….Ketchup!” With another hysterical popping sound at the end.

Bonnie’s wrist lifted to her nose, her brows remained in the same acute position as a result of Mrs Reeds percuilar behaviors. Wondering to herself if the lady had busted a vein during the moments that she was away. It was currently four thirty sharp, only four hours more to push through their hellish sentencing. Bonnie, preoccupied by her own confusion had forgotten about the free hallway pass to the restroom that she and her ‘friend’ had crafted. The same couldn’t be said for Natalie as her arm stood up, garnering Mrs Reeds attention instantly.

“Can I be excused, Ms?” Her voice strained. An affirmative answer was given to her, the tawny yarns in Natalie’s ponytail swung its way to the exit door, not having fully departed yet, a farmiliar voice called to her from inside.

“Ooh!, and call Adelaide while you’re at it. I swear the girl must be taking a swim in the toilet basin. She’s been out for quite a while now.”

“Why don’t you call her yourself?” These words slipped from Natalie’s mouth. Bonnie's jaw loosened.

“Because, I’m not the one going to the restroom right now….” The freckles on Natalie’s cheeks sizzled into small red torches, the roof of her mouth began to tinge with an overbearing sour taste the longer she stared down at Bonnie’s indifferent face. Steaming with anguish, Natalie stormed her way out, banging the door shut from behind. Undeniable for these things were to be blind to, even Bonnie in her ignorance had sensed anger from the girl. She was ready to speak once again, having faced the others to get an insight from Natalie’s sudden abrasiveness.

“Its fine,” Interrupted the stout boy before she was able to utter a word. “I’ll go look for Adelaide.” He stood with his back peeking from behind his shirt which was two sizes too short for a boy of his figure. It Peeked out like a blank white canvas. “She’s probably moping in the hallway somewhere. Not out of the usual for her.” His eyes were fixated on Bonnie. “ You alright?.”

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with her.”

“I don’t think you ever will.”

“Well, she’s the one who’s mad for no reason.”

“If you think that’s the case, then sure.” Heavy footsteps thumped as he walked by her. Bonnie was plugged to her seat with her mouth still gaping as it did before, unable to comprehend the sudden burst of agitation from Natalie. In a similar fashion, Mrs Reed remained glued at her desk, sucked in between the pages of the old worn out journal.

The hallway lights ticked endlessly, their potency dimmed the further Natalie paved the path stretching on eternally before her. From a hollow distance an unnerving buzz began to move through the walls. Sounding similar to that of an old worn out refrigerator. Unknowingly driving her dizzy as she stomped through. However much a nuisance it was to her ears, the girls thoughts overpowered them.

“Three years,” they mumbled to her. “Three years wasted being tossed around like a pawn.” Bonnie’s silence still rubbed her skin the wrong way the more she replayed the scene in her head. Her cheeks began to heat up into a pair of red balloons as the earth shook beneath her feet. A heavy thump followed into her path, the beige tiling reflected a dark figment of rippled shadow bolting towards the girl.

“Hold on…” the voice huffed as it screamt. “Wait…” Natalie continued on in her journey to find the restroom. A rigid hand weighted her shoulders down. “I said….wait.” A raspy cough scrapped against the boy’s throat as to regain the ability to form a sentence once again.

He panted ten times louder.“You’re fast.”

“What do you want ‘Piggy’?” she hissed. ‘Piggy’ stood in shock by her repugnant tone. He soon found the words to say to her.

“You’re mad at your friend.”

“.…… No I’m not, and her name is Bonnie.” The browns in her eyes stirred as she rolled them. Rodrick’s stubby feet tip toed as to keep up with her pace.

“Bonnie?,hmm. You know, come to think of it I don’t even know the names of half of the people in that class. Even yours. Strange isn’t it?, how we’ve been talking all along yet-”

“I don’t care,” the girl spat. The indication of wanting to be left alone hadn’t gone over Rodrick’s head, whilst he was aware of Natalie’s anger, he knew also that what she needed was someone to talk to.

“I think you do, a whole lot, one might argue. That’s why you’re being so crass about it.” This was enough to stop her in her path.

“Why are you here?,stop following me,” she whispered over her shoulder.

“But I am not though, I need to use the restroom too. Besides, I’m here for Adelaide. I know that she must be somewhere around these corners. But, I must admit, I’m a bit skeptical about that fact.”

“Why is that?.”

“Not that I don’t believe that she’s not around. But, you should have heard her earlier. She was talking about some really strange incidents, had us shaking in our boots; Connor’s little sister has been missing for quite a while now, I assume you know him.”

“Who doesn’t.”

“Yeah its messed up. She’s being accused of it.” Natalie’s head made a wild turn to Rodrick.

“But, I don’t know. I mean of course she had nothing to do with that little girls disappearance. But, she thinks she knows who is responsible for it. Or ‘what’ is responsible for it….”

“‘What’?. What does that even mean?” The girl stopped in her tracks like before. Facing Rodrick eye to eye as she did so. His fingers scratched the back of his flat head.

“From the way I heard it, probably some sort of cryptid, alien or whatever.”

“You sound unsure.”

“I don’t think anyone can find a way to explain these things without sounding off. Except for her. She seemed confident in her stories.”

“Whatever,” Groaned Natalie. Her back faced the boy once again, resuming in the linear path ahead of her where a corner could be seen, just to the right, not too far from it stood the blue and pink restroom doors. ‘Piggy’ slid by her left, his restless mouth always pulling words out of thin air.

“This could be the beginning of an unlikely friendship, you know. You, me, that other boy, the blue headed one and……..Bonnie, possibly. I mean that is if she’s willing to join, Ooh!, and Adelaide.” Natalie’s gaze lowered. “I think you should apologize to her though……. the girl’s been through enough.”

“Don’t act like that.”

“Like what?”

“You were laughing at her too.”

The boy hesitated. “I know.” He tittered, finally. “I think that I can get myself too carried at times. Especially when other people are around.”

“I can relate. I too have had these instances. I suppose it makes for a good laugh, and people like that.” A pause followed. “You should’ve known better. It wasn’t funny to her, and you were aware that she had been going through so much already, but you betrayed her all because you wanted others to see how cool you were. The same can be said for me. But………I guess I’m just a hypocrite.” A sway of glum possessed her at that moment, by the way her chin caved into neck whilst she spoke, Rodrick was well made aware of it.

“That’s why you should apologize to her.” Her eyes lifted slightly. “We’ll, do it together. All of us will. Even that other boy that would most probably digress.”

“Yeah?” Her voice lightened as if it were to break into a mirth. “And how are you going to convince him?. His kind of an asshole.”

“With this.” His pale fist rose to face the tube lights up ahead, bringing somewhat a look of glee on Natalie’s face considering how ridiculous it all sounded to her. “What?. I mean someone’s got to do it.”

“I thought you two were friends already.”

“I’m not his friend,” Rodrick said, jokingly. It would have been better if he had said nothing at all, the repercussion of his blatant statement was another silent treatment from Natalie as her face lowered to the floor.

He looked down to her.

“Hey, let’s forget about earlier okay…” he referred to the incident between her and Adelaide, might as well add the tension between her and Bonnie to the equation. “We can start this whole thing anew if you like, and come-Monday, maybe all six of us can begin sitting at the same table at lunch time.”

“Six?. Try five, four even at that. I don’t want to be around Bonnie anymore, and I doubt if that other boy would even care to join us at all. But, sure, why not?. Anythings better than nothing I guess. But even so, its just a matter of time before you give up on me too.”

“Do I look like the type of person to do that?”

“That’s the point, looks are deceiving, I don’t know what type of person you are. I mean, I thought Bonnie was someone I could trust, but she doesn’t seem to fancy my company. There is no one that I can trust. Strange, I am indeed surrounded, yet I can’t help but to feel utterly alone.”

“You can’t say that.”

“Why not?. Isn’t that the ultimate truth. Even when I’m not school these feelings remains. I doubt that my parents care about me all that much. Their existence seems to be but a figment of my imagination. I rarely see them. They don’t even work that much. But it seems as though over the years they’ve grown distant from me, maybe because I keep getting myself into trouble at school, or maybe because they needed a reason to hate me in the first place.”

“Well, I don’t hate you.” She gave him a look of endearment from underneath her eyelids. “It is true that we can’t control everything that happens to us, However whatever may come, it is our responsibility to prevail from them.”

“So what?. You think that there’s a reason I was given such callous parents?” A bitter laugh almost escaped from her lips.

“Ultimately, I think you were meant to find us, that’s why. All in exception to Bonnie if you like. But not me, I’m here for you.” He stood facing her, finally. The restroom being just a step beside them.

“You don’t even know my name.” Her vision began to blur.

“I don’t need to know your name, I know that you’re capable of so much more than others leads themselves to believe. I know you can be a better person. That’s why we need to find Adelaide, that’s why it is important that we forgive her for our actions.”

“I must admit, I’m a bit nervous. Emberassed even…… I don’t know what to say.”

“We’ll find her. Meet me here when you’re done, then we’ll find her together.”

“You sure that’s going to work,” she said after hesitating to.

“I know for a fact that it will, and if we don’t find her today, then maybe she’ll come to school on Monday. Or, we can go by her place if the issue persists.” Natalie stood glued to the floor, the light from over his head blinding her, nevertheless, she didn’t shed away from its radiance, they swallowed the boy’s face whole as his countenance beamed with it. Eventually they parted ways as they each entered their designated restrooms.

In the girls bathroom, where the cyan tiling hummed with fractals of light, spilling over the floor like melted ice. Natalie slid her way straight to the vanity facing the entrance. She gave a daunting glare to her reflection as a set of violins at the back of her mind began to shrill subtly, having taken a sharp whiff at an odd scent. The smell reminded her of her Sundays at church, more specifically, the stale scent of dripping candle wax and something otherly that could be best described as the tangy scent of bad yogurt. But still, she was able to ignore it, as her thoughts began to mumble to her.

“Three years. Three years. Three years.” She released a heavy sigh as the tips of her fingers loosened around the edges of the porcelain sink .

“I guess that all good things must come to an end……. or maybe I’m being too much…..” she

muttered to the mirror, hoping that in some unseen circumstances her reflection would speak back to her. But this was the real world and not some magical fairy-tale land where all of her problems can vanish at a sway of a wand. If anything, she needed to find her own way to break free from these shackles.

Her slender fingers reached for the faucet, the spout spat out cold, frozen water as a result of twisting it open. Her palms dunked the water straight onto her face as the icy droplets bit into her skin. Natalie grabbed the paper towel hovering over her head, patted her skin dry and exchanged one last glare into the vanity. The solution was as clear as glass, at the end of the day there was only one thing for her left to do, all good things must come to an end, as she said. Her questionable dynamic with Bonnie was not an exception. Natalie scoffed at that idea. But really, there wasn’t anything funny to laugh at. She was well aware that it was the truth that she was being confronted with, she herself not knowing how she had managed three years of being pushed around and used as she was. Maybe Rodrick was right, just beyond the fences that she had stacked up for herself, there was a new life waiting for her, new adventures and possibly new friends. Another scoff broke from her lips at the idea of ‘new friends’, this sneer being more bitter than the one before.

The odd scent from earlier eroded her nostrils again, clogging her throat as it penetrated into her lungs. In spite of her efforts to ignore it, this time around she was unable to as her tongue was contaminated by the subtle metallic taste from the odour. Natalie coughed having swallowed the taste, another raspy cough followed after the first. Resulting in a sharp stinging pain in her right rib. Her fingers twisted the faucet shut. Wrestling with the knob as water droplets still fell from the spout. Drip!. Drip!. Drip!. the dew drops sang coldly at the side of the ceramic sink. Unnerving its sound was to Natalie, her trials to force the tap shut failed completely as her nostrils was compacted with that smell yet again.

The aroma, although sweet and intoxicating at first, gradually began to reek of subtle notes of rotting. Her elbow rose to shelter her nose from the attack, but it was no use. The scent penetrated through them also. Eventually, she identified the plausible source of the stench, marching towards the stalls where the scent grew potent. Her mission now was to investigate these said stalls - each and every one of them thoroughly.

Bam!. Her leg kicked the first door open. Nothing was found, except for some toilet paper strings on the rims of the toilet - fluttering in the wind created from the violent push.

The second door suffered the same fate. This kick being more powerful than the other.

Nothing.

The third stall stood waiting. The sour aroma stung her eyes even more as they began to swell red from underneath. Natalie’s leg hesitated to lift, the inadequacy in her actions confused her too, unsure to what she was waiting for to bash this particular door open. The air thickened around her, A violent thump settled into the depths of her chest, at times it seemed as if she was on the verge of suffocating. Nevertheless, she tried to breath in the little clean air that surrounded her momentarily, releasing them heavily as her acute elbow pointed towards the stall yet to be explored. Her left hand was unoccupied, slowly her fingers reached out to push the door open. The surface of it was cold and smooth as if she was pressing her hand against an iceberg. Another sigh broke from her lips. Natalie applied the necessary force needed to push the door open. The screws intact from it moaned as it eased its way inward. At the edge of her sit, the girl waited as the cracks of the door slowly revealed the secrets hidden within it. The moans persisting as a sharp source of light was unveiled from beyond, blinding Natalie in one eye. She recovered from it in an instant. Her left eyelid separating to see yet again, just another normal stall ajar beneath a sickly white ray of light.

“What the hell.” These words muffled into her elbow.

There was one more stall left. The fourth one. The odour over there was unlike anything else, the sweetness from before had dissipated as the stench sat still in that particular corner, So much so that she could basically see the putrid swirls circulating over the stall in tints of rotten green. Natalie gagged as she paved the path to it. Not knowing why she hadn’t just given up the chase yet and head on to class already. Nevertheless, she never liked questioning her impulsive decisions, and so the investigation continued.

Her feet, stiff from weariness and disappointment lifted to bash the door open, even breaking it if she must. As she was banging the door. It seemed to be locked from not having open at any instances, something from the other side fell heavily to prop itself against the door, the metal from it rang into the soles of Natalie's feet as it did so. She paused mid air from having felt it.

“Is there someone there?” she shouted. A response was not given. Natalie ensued a singular bang, another heavy fall from behind followed. The stall door had no gap from underneath it, so even if she wanted to peek from beneath to see what was going on from inside, she couldn’t. The mystery was left for her mind to solve.

At a final resort, Natalie inhaled into the depths of her diaphragm, swallowing the sour air as her right knee rose higher than it did before, tucking it into her chest, ready to launch it with all of her might into the rigid door. She released a sharp exhale as her feet blasted into the door. Her attempt was a success as her eyes filled with light from beyond the stall, blinding both of them this time. Having standing right beneath the opening an undefinable weight pushed her to the floor as it fell on top of her. The thing seeped with cold fluids that drained on her torso. With her eyes shut from the fall, she was blind to her surroundings, she was lucky enough to have not suffered from a concussion, or hit the back of her head in any hazardous way. Placing her right hand on top of the object responsible for her collapse, she sensed something stiff, cold and slightly moist lying on top of her, It came in pairs. Both pinned her to the ceramic floor.

Her eyelids lifted, she faced the ceiling, the tube lights from above blurred in and out of focus into her vision. After her sight was restored, Natalie made the mistake of looking down onto her chest.

Mrs Reed and Adelaide gaped at her as they lied onto her stomach. Their bodies were ghastly white with their skin as rough as leather, not moving a muscle as they were folded onto one another. That’s when Natalie came to realize that they were both dead.

A mysterious liquid poured onto the girls reddened face. Her arms although feeble and trembling were strong enough to push their frozen bodies away from her abdomen. Her heart sank at the sight of their corpses, with their eyes bulging palely like a pair of freshly guttered fish. The oozing liquid reeked of rot as it drenched onto her pink colored shirt.

Natalie paddled away from the two corpses with her gaze having yet to break away from them. Her throat began to burn from the restless screams she was releasing. Even so her arms persisted to push her closer to the exit. Feeling the hard, slippery surface from underneath them as she crawled her way out.

At the door, her ears pointed outward to hear a prolong groaning sound that seemed to go on eternally. Natalie rested at the opening border of the girls bathroom, the light from the school hallway pouring onto her as she made another attempt at listening to the sound through her frantic thoughts.

There she was, still lying on the floor as she held her breath.

The groan persisted, the voice was coming from the boy’s restroom it seemed. Natalie listened long enough to realize how farmiliar the voice was. With her eyes sizzling amongst frightful tears, the girl made an effort to use her legs as a form of support. Forgetting how to walk altogether from the series of events that just took place. Not knowing that yet another realization was going to hit her like an oncoming train.

“Wait, that can’t be Mrs Reed…..” she mumured, refusing to look at the corpse that she was refering to.

“Because Mrs Reed was in class with us this whole time, she was in class when I left …” everything began to jumble inside of her head. Nothing made sense to her at that moment, not even the path she was taking for the exit, and if you were to ask me, well, it was possible that Natalie thought that she was going mad. Nonetheless, she departed from the restroom. Feet still heavy from shock.

The voice from before only grew more audible from there. Her ears painted the sound of it a sharp cutting red, as if the person was now grasping for air violently.

Limping to the boy’s bathroom, Natalie’s knees buckled like soldier helmets being banged against one another as her spine convulsed into electrifying sparks. Her right palm pushed against the wall that divided the girls and the boys restroom. Her pupils constricted as light flooded into them from the boys restroom, this was after she had cracked the door open gently.

The browns in her hair lightened to a frightened rusted colour, as her eyes beheld yet another horrifying scene.

She saw it. ‘Piggy’ levitating to the ceiling as if he was being pulled by a string attached to his large chest. His eyelids were heavy with the beams overhead and remained shut as a result.

“Rodrick-” she almost whispered; his name however was stuck in her throat. Natalie was quick to swallow it and reverted back to observing. Her hands struggled to keep the door open, she pushed it more as to reveal to the mystery behind Rodrick's levitation. She soon saw that he was in fact being held upwards. Her jaw dropped to the ground as her nostrils fluttered twice its size to smell fresh scented lime soap from the restroom. Snot began to trickle down from them as tears followed in its path towards her chin. She couldn’t believe it, Mrs Reed was there inside of the bathroom, standing well and alive. Holding Rodrick captive in both of her palms, lifting him to the beam of light like an enormous infant; his throat opened as if to swallow the hot rays from above. He groaned endlessly as he was risen, exchanging a series of sharp breaths from time to time. His stomach wriggled into Mrs Reeds grasp, tussling over as to slip through her grip, however his struggles remained as the lady had no intention to let go at any moment. The sudden inhumane strength wasn’t the only thing that came as a shock to Natalie. The girl noticed something stranger than that. As ‘Mrs Reed’ wrapped her slender fingers around Rodrick's waist. All ten of them began to sprout in length, stretching into thinner threads as she squeezed the air out of the boy’s lungs. ‘Mrs Reeds’ torso began to thin out also, her spine cracking as it expanded upwards, although she was already tall to begin with, now the lady was simply gigantic. Her knuckles slowly began to de-saturate in hue, only to form tints of green on its protruding joints. Her elbows and knees were soon to follow in the discoloration. Eventually, as the metamorphosis continued on, her arms shrunk into two wiry sticks, resembling that of an insects limbs, in spite of their frail appearance there was still so much strength that exuded from them as Rodrick was held to the light.

Natalie tasted the salt from her tears as they drained into her mouth. Her gaze was lifted to both the boy and ‘Mrs Reed’ simultaneously, their shadows danced in the whites of her eyes as her body grew numb from terror. ‘Mrs Reed’s’ jaw dislocated, the cracks in her bones echoed thorough the boy’s restroom, as her mandible unlocked to descend in uneven steps. Revealing rows of spiraling porcelain teeth, each being well sharpened as to cut through flesh. A garnet tongue slithered from the depths of her sinewy throat - moving vulgarly with spit.

Rodrick's eyes, as Natalie saw it, were already rolling at the back of his head from the position of which he was held, with his throat stretching out as his head hung back. The roof of his mouth dripped with saliva. They spilled onto the tile floor like segregated ponds.

She could still hear him groan as he forced it out of his chest. She wanted to barge in and call for him but her legs just wouldn’t move. It was as if for that moment her mind was outside of her body, watching as the boy’s waist was squeezed like a cotton towel.

At a final instant, Rodrick was able to release a scream; Natalie shivered at how loud and distinct the sound was, the glottal intonations and the raspiness that dried his throat as the cry prolonged. All of it was too much for her to bare.

The boy’s wails were no use, they were muffled into the dry palms of ‘Mrs Reed’. If Natalie could even call her that anymore. The lady’s teeth clamped at the side of his neck, the blades of it tore through his skin as she took a generous bite out, stuffing her mouth with clumps of pink flesh.

Rodrick, half alive, ensued another groaning whine. Churning Natalie’s blood into clogged clumps. Still watching as pieces of his now red soaked flesh flung to the floor like chewed gum. ‘Mrs Reed’ persisted, cradling his corpse nearer to her chest, taking mouthful bites out the side of his ribs as if she was feasting on an oversized apple. Her tongue slabbed against the roof of her mouth, collecting all the fallen juices from the boy’s insides as it coated her palate in a metallic sweet taste. The sound of it reverberated into Natalie's ears. Natalie remained frozen in her sneakers. The lump in her throat barricaded any sound from escaping. Not even a ghastly whisper breezed its way out. Only silence was demanded from her at that moment.

A few minutes passed before she came to realize that Rodrick had fully been taken apart by now, the sequence skipped through her mind like a cut-scene from a movie, reality faded in, in blinding lights of white. Her eyes dropped to the floor before her. There was nothing but a slab of meat crumbling in-between the fingers of what seemed to be a scrawny humanoid insect creature and the other parts of the Rodrick’s body stacked on the floor into a hill of minced flesh.

Nothing for an instant, before everything rushed into her mind all at once - the fear, the dread, the loss.

Natalie needed to make a run for it, she needed to leave the school entirely at this micro instant.

Her legs grew wings, she bolted into the opening of the hallway, searching for the school exit as it called onto her name.

Deep into the throat of the hall, way past the detention classroom, stood a pair of crimson coloured doors. This was the only way out into the school campus. Where safety was assured.

Natalie, pedaled towards them. Her eyes still swollen from weeping. The tears from them flung behind into silver droplets as she raced through. Passing by the classroom door without taking a glimpse at it. She crashed full speed into the wooden doors, bumping into them as they stood solid, not budging to open. Natalie realized that the doors were locked. The key for them might have been in the janitors closet or inside Mrs Reeds back skirt pockets in the bathroom stall where her corpse lied. The hairs on her body erected as her fists banged on the door’s surface several times. Not that panic would have helped her to escape or anything.

The floor scrapped from a distance. The pace of its sound was slow and steady, as if something was dragging its heavy body around the corner way before her.

“She’s coming!” Imploded her thoughts.

Her eyes riveted to the classroom door as they stretched on before her in the tunnel way of the hall. Natalie made a run for it. Hoping that perhaps she can go back to her seat as if nothing had happened. Rodrick's dreadful fate was avoidable if she would remain sat amongst the others or maybe not, maybe this was a matter of time before that thing lunged itself at all of them. Nevertheless, she sprinted to that particular door momentarily. Her restless pants cutting through the air as her rubber sneakers bounced into motion. The squeals released from them pitching into several octaves.

The witches shadow peeked at the corners from ahead just a few steps before the student restrooms. All this, however was erased from her vision with tears sizzling in the corners of her eyes as if vinegar and salt had been rubbed into them. Natalie’s knees sunk into her legs - resulting into a fall that was saved by her pasty palms. Finally making it to the door as she leapt into place.

The door knob wouldn’t budge, the tremors in her hands didn’t help either. Everything was shaking before her, even her breathing trembled into humid sighs.

“No….please,” she pleaded in a whisper. A few seconds in, a cold claw followed thorough the lines of her spine. Sparking electrifying shivers into the girls back as it caressed her.

Her limbs froze in place. Struggling with the door was the last thing that she wanted to do. The claw weighted her right shoulder down as it was placed upon it.

“Done in the restroom?….already?” a farmiliar voice croaked from behind. Slowly, her neck twisted to face what she could only assume to be ‘Mrs Reed’ towering over her - or the fraud that was pretending to be her as Natalie would put it.

The figment of a human silhouette blurred in and out of her peripheral vision. Afraid to push through, Natalie stopped halfway to look at her. It was obvious even from there, that ‘Mrs Reed’s’ arms had shorten to their original length. The blood from her face were all cleaned up as the girl came to see it.

The claw wrapped around the girls right shoulder, not having leaved it once since it was placed. Forming a sentence was an impossible task for Natalie at that moment, the question from before was left unresponded.

Finally, without a struggle the door eased inward. Natalie limped inside the class as ‘Mrs Reed’s’ fingers were still cuffed around the girls shoulder. They made an entrance together. Natalie being the lead in that situation.

Vincent was at the centre front of the room up to his usual antics. Having seen the pair fitting their bodies through the opening crack of the door. He raced back to his seat as the dark coils in his hair sprung back.

“Mrs Reed you’re back!” rejoiced Bonnie, although her smile hid the temptation to yell out “I wished you weren’t.”

“Resume to your seats,” said ‘Mrs Reed’ in an uncanny jovial tone. Natalie escaped from the grip of the cannibal, hastening to the further left end of the room, abandoning her old seat to find refuge to a new desk. One stranded far off in a sea of chairs and tables. The allocation was taken notice of, even after Natalie long passed her, Bonnie’s neck continued to strain as her head followed in the direction of the breeze created by Natalie as she scurried away. The veins in her throat bulged as they palpitated vigorously.

She knew that Natalie was still furious at her, however, the reason to why she was so upset in the first place remained unidentified to Bonnie.

“You’re not still mad are you?” She almost snarled. In the past, these explosive behaviors

were not uncommon for Bonnie, especially towards Natalie who’d always patch things up nicely from the outside. However the case, being hesitant was something far unfamiliar to her, resulting in a pungent bitter taste in her mouth as she swallowed the nasty words she held back. Bonnie’s raven threads of hair whipped away from Natalie. Vincent was indifferent as always. The same couldn’t be said for Iva as her eyes darted between the two conflicting bodies. Particularly Natalie as she noticed the untamed kinks in her hair, the way they stood as if she had been electrocuted, and beads of sweat that was steaming from her forehead, the drums inside of her chest could be heard even from the distance that she sat from Iva. Something was wrong with her, it was undeniable to see.

Whilst Iva’s observation persisted; Natalie, blind to her surroundings was drowning in a pool of thoughts. Her skull was filling up, soon to be broken through like a dam.

In spite of her racing thoughts, questioning to what the creature was remained unattended. Fear had a habit to stifle people in the most absurd ways possible.

At last, Natalie remembered the final conversation that she and Rodrick shared prior to the event. Even uttering that name in her head made her nauseous. If only there was a way to go back in time, if only she had stayed in class, although she was pissed at Bonnie, then maybe there was a chance that he would have been alive by now. But even so, eventually the conversation of Adelaide's whereabouts would have been brought up, it was only a matter of time before someone got killed, even worse, feasted on. It was possible that by the end of the day her eyes might fall off from the way she was holding back these pulsating tears. They bit into her eyelids as a form of protest.

“Where the hell is Adelaide?” a boisterous voice snapped Natalie back to reality. Her eyes, sore and red levitated to the cannibal. Unsurprisingly, she was back to reading the newspaper, lost behind a world of words. Natalie’s thoughts had a habit of wandering into spaces that should remain uncharted. A daunting assumption roamed her head, a slight chill in her bones settled as she dissected it: maybe she wasn’t reading, maybe she was pretending to, Mrs Reed’s replacement was anything but human, that was certain. The compulsive need to hover the journal over her nose was one of the many ways it knew how to mimic human behaviour, not that the fraud was any good at it. That was the unnerving part really, just how uncanny her movements were, even when it was trying to act normally. Nonetheless, Natalie watched dizzily as ‘Mrs Reed’ sat, as if the chair was made of stone. Bonnie’s question from before remained unanswered. The lack of attention gave her a sense of existential dread, she soon turned to Vincent, knowing that he’d be attentive to whatever she had to say.

“Really?. There’s no way.”

“That’s what I was saying,” their whispers grew more audible in Natalie’s ears. They had been talking for a while now, it was only then that Natalie had picked up what they were saying.

“ liar,” said Bonnie to the boy.

“Oh, woooooow. Do you really think I’ll believe in that crap.”

“You just might. I don’t know you.”

“Pfft!. Oh please, there are no such things.”

“Then why did you have to bring it up?”

“I mean, it makes for a really suspenseful story that I’ll say, not that it’s scary or anything. But, when you think about it now, maybe Adelaide bumped into it too. That’s why she hasn’t come back yet.” The boy had no clue how close to the truth this statement was.

“Stop, you’re not funny.”

His brow punctured into an acute motion. “A mantis, Bonnie?!. Really?. Do you really think that Adelaide has been taken by one.”

“That’s what you told me about Connor, you told me he saw it too.”

“And you told me to stop speaking out of my ass. But all of a sudden you seem to believe in it.”

“Well, I wasn’t part of that conversation earlier. So how would I know you’re not making things up?” Vincent gave a bitter laugh at that just before folding his orange sleeved arms over his stomach.

“She said that, that Connor boy’s little sister is dead because of it.”

“She’s missing,” Bonnie’s spoke into the mirror on her blush palette.

“So you’ve heard?”

“Yeah, my father works in the police department. Mother always say that he’d have to slice off his tongue one day if he continues to tell us about confidential matters at work.”

“Then how come you don’t know about Adelaide being a suspect in all of this?”

“I don’t always listen to everything he has to say. Because there is always an addition of scolding after he’s done with a story. He’ll be talking about something one minute ago only to deflect by saying that I’ve gain a little weight lately, or straight up bash my grades.”

“I didn’t know you were an idiot.”

Bonnie struck the blush palette in her hand shut. “We’re a family of B’s” she said refering to her parents “Bonnie, Ben, Barbara. Anything below that is considered heresy. Even if I got a C on my math test. It is safe to say that if I continue like this then they’ll have no choice but to disown me one day. But no, I didn’t know about Adelaide’s interference with this case.” Bonnie reopened the plastic box of blush. “I guess Connie’s wishes did come to life. He always complained about his little sister, and now she’s not here for him to do that anymore.”

“Connie?!”

Bonnie turned to face him. “Its his nickname, okay?”

“I don’t think he’s too fond of it.”

“He hasn’t complained about it yet, I mean not that he can now, but he never did in the first place….. and his little sister is not dead.” The word ‘dead’ was said in a mocking tone, picking at Vincent's way of speech.

“It’s a great possibility. Next thing you know, comes Monday and everybody has bouquets lined up for Connor’s sisters memorial at school.”

“Strange,” Bonnie mumured to her watch having lowered the palette already.

“Nothing’s strange. These things happen you know, every single day. But no one bats an eye unless its close to them……… she wasn’t abducted by aliens or anything. For all we know, the girl might have stranded too far off from a neighbouring trail into the woods and failed to find her way back. She’s never coming back for all we know, its sad really.”

“Whatever. Can you stop now, this is freaking me out-”

“Nevertheless, the truth remains and you can’t hide from that. Not forever at least.”

“And what is this ‘truth’ that you’re on about?”

“.…. That bad things happens all the time, and there’s nothing we can do to fix it. Not you, not me, not our parents, hell!, that is if they even care to……. and not our teachers. This world wasn’t made for us Bonnie, we’re nothing but just defenseless little kids. We’re lucky to be still breathing by now-”

“I said that I don’t care!” She barked at him for not shutting up. It must have been the word parents, or maybe her ears had already grown sore by now. She returned to her palette mirror, switching between the watch and the mirror from time to time like a frantic octopus.

For a second Bonnie had succeeded in shutting the boy up, but knowing Vincent he was just using that silence for momentum, he spoke once again:

“Our parents doesn’t care about us, not in the ways that they should. I mean its nice going to sleep on a full stomach, its nice knowing that you’re being provided for. But it would have also been nice to be seen as a person, because life’s hard for us too. No matter how unbelievable that sounds. I mean our parents were our age once, I doubt that everything went swiftly for them. But I think that's the thing about growing up. Being an adult entails that you just seem to forget about everything. Overtime you forget too much that all that is left is an empty crater from the inside, nothing that a pack of canned beer can’t fill up though, I must say, but you’re gonna need plenty of it, only then can you go to sleep to do it all over again tomorrow. It’s a never ending cycle. I don’t know why anyone continues to indulge in it.

Everyone talks about hell, but I don’t think they know what hell is. Hell is having to wake up in a ditch and hoping that the thirty cans of beer from last night hasn’t been spilled all over the floor, worse if its already been soaked up into the carpet, I mean it’s easier to clean when it’s not. Or else the stench will stay around for about a week.

Does your house smell like that?, I suppose not, I hate that smell it makes me loose my appetite. I can complain all day, nevertheless, nothing matters.”

“If I was your parents I would’ve done the same too. That seems to be the only way they can get a break from you. You never seem to shut up. You’re kind of annoying.”

“That doesn’t matter either.” His nose faced the wall, staring off into the greens and mis-colored beige's from them. This time he was able to seal his mouth shut.

“It’s been a while,” murmured Bonnie to herself whilst checking her watch.

“hmm?” his eyes shifted from the wall to the waves in her hair, at times he thought about passing his fingers through them .

“I mean the bathroom doesn’t come with a secret escape door now, does it?. Where’s Adelaide?”

“Like you care.”

“Its …… strange,” she whispered into the lens of her watch as before, the mirror had been abandoned completely.

“You’re not scared are you?. The story’s not true, Bonnie. There’s no six foot praying mantis's spying over people at night.” He watched as the wind blew into her hair, the ways that the ripple of their waves turned into turbulent sea’s. That gave him a reason to watch his tone, to not go overboard with what he had to say.“Besides, Adelaide is a lost cause. She’s always around in some secluded corner. It’s ‘Piggy’ that you should be worried about.”

“Was I talking to you?” Bonnie exploded at him, having to hear his voice all over again.

“Was I ?” he responded coolly.

“You’re such a liar, you just were.” Her head turned to him.

Their banters muffled through Natalie’s ears as their prior conversations came to an end. Slowly she was being pulled back into the abyss where her thoughts lingered and her body remained afloat in the real world. However, a cold touch punctured through her skin, her vision was struck by sparks of white as she leapt from her seat. The chair screeched as it was abandoned abruptly.

Iva gaped at her with her hand still intact in the air. “Hey,” she said “Is … is everything alright?”

It took Natalie some time to answer, a slight nod in affirmative was given, if you could consider that an answer. Natalie stood with her legs spread apart, watching as the dots of blue fogged in her sight. Her heart bursting into forceful thumps.

Iva let out a heavy sigh, blowing away the dark clouds that sat over her own head. “I know,” she said, her gaze averting from Natalie’s. “Its kind of weird that I’m talking to you out of nowhere…… I just wanted to check on you. I hope that everything's alright. You didn't necessarily seem the most happiest earlier.” Iva let out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of her head as she did so.

“I had a friend once too, I know how tumultuous it can be.” she continued to thumbling with her fingers. “If anything, I hope that you and I can keep in contact, I haven't talked to anyone in a while………” she wrapped her right hand over her left arm “….. Maybe we can get to know each other better….umm, but that all depends on you if you like.” The lines on Iva’s forehead deepened, her brows squeezed to pinch her nose even further, having seen Natalie’s distant gaze to her, as if she had heard everything she had said, but her mind was venturing to some other place. Worrisome, Iva ended the conversation “…… I’ll give you sometime to breathe, I’m going back to my seat now, if you need anything, well you know where to find me.” she walked her way back timidly, leaving a slight breeze that snapped Natalie out of her delirious state. She watched as Iva swayed away, with the cyan in her hair reminding her of the complexion of the tiling in the restroom. Mrs Reed’s and Adelaide’s bodies were still lying on that cold, frigid surface as Natalie came to realize. That is if they hadn’t been reduce into undefinable clumps already like Rodrick was. The indication of the possibility weighted down her stomach.

“Bathroom?” a sinister voice inquired. The browns in the girls eyes stirred as she faced ‘Mrs Reed’, the person who had asked the question. Her pupils peeked at the top of the old journal, opaque and devoided of life. The light from above them had ceased to being absorbed into her retinas. Natalie felt her spine pierced with a cold caress, just as a few minutes ago from outside. The reminder of that touch send shivers into her limbs, her lips ceased to open. If she’d go on silent and repressive then ‘Mrs Reed’ might have translated that into an affirmative, surely she would have been coerced to go outside, alone with the creature, and so as a result she was quick to return to her seat, having leapt there in a second.

The paper was slowly risen over ‘Mrs Reed’s’ reptilian gaze. Natalie could practically feel them burning through the pages before her. Rummaging through a web of thoughts was depleting enough, having said so, the girl was already drained from terror and the many voices that spun circles in her mind. Another realization came to her like a beating whip: “Eventually the bodies that she had devoured from before will all go to waste in her stomach. If that’s so, then there is no denying that its just a matter of time before her insatiable appetite makes a return. Only then shall she erupt. There must be another way out.” Her eyes swept over the facility. “There must a window from the hall.” She thought to herself, having replicated a clear image of the hallway in her head.

A sudden screeched of metal on concrete, snapped Natalie out of her head. Her eyes swept towards the only boy left in the class. The neon bracelet on his arms shaking as he passed by her in a flash.

“Where are you going?” Bonnie asked

“Why, you wanna come join me?” he vexed as a response. The distasteful reply was met by Bonnie’s usual crass reactions as her eyes rolled passionately. Vincent did the same to her before having to state the reason behind his sudden urgency.

“The restroom, I’m going to the restroom.”

“No!” the chair beneath Natalie screeched as she stood screaming. Her sudden burst of energy certainly created room for the others to look at her with confusion and a side of worry.

Vincent's brow punctured at her.

“You, you can’t leave.”

“Why not?” His expressions exaggerated. Natalie’s gaze shifted to the cannibal at the front. The newspaper hadn’t moved an inch below her eyebrows, nonetheless, the way her back was perched up from the chair, it was clear that she was ready to make a move as soon as the boy exited.

“Bonnie!” Natalie turned to the girl urgently. “How much time do we have left?” her voice lowered.

“So what?, you’re not mad anymore?” responded Bonnie bitterly. Finding it best to refrain from continuing as she faced the wall beside her. The cardboard smell of old paint erupted her sense, with that being said, she would have much rather suffocate from them than to look at Natalie, I suppose.

A pause from them. A keenful observation was made towards ‘Mrs Reed’; Having done so, Natalie made an approach to the others.

“Now is not the time,” she whispered to Bonnie whilst standing before her. Her head still twisting to face the fraud from time to time.

“What are you even talking about?, and get out of my face, don’t talk to me after acting so weird.”

Natalie made another wild turn to ‘Mrs Reed’ “You don’t understand,” her voice gradually descending into an inaudible mumble.

“I said get away!” Bonnie imploded; Natalie retracted as a result.

“You don’t need to yell” Iva could be heard muttering into her sleeves as her chin was rested on the table. What she had to say was brushed off easily from their minds.

Natalie faced Vincent “You don’t really have to go now, do you?. You can wait until you get home.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Replied the boy repulsively.

“Yeah Nat, why do you think you have the right to?”

“Because I said so.” Natalie snapped; ‘Mrs Reed’ remained as stone.

“You can’t tell us what to do, especially me. You’re not my dad.”

“Thank god for that am I right?. I don’t think you’re aware of just how much a pain in the ass you are to others.” Bonnie gaped at her as she was spoken to.

“You’ve got some really deep rooted issue’s,” Vincent added referring to Natalie.

“Well, she’s not perfect either.”

“I mean is anyone?-”

“Ugh, just shut up. No one cares about what you have to say, why don’t you just leave already, leave the whole place while you’re at it. I think that there are greater matters for you take care at home.”

“Oh wow. Really?. Thanks,” he responded after a while, turned his back to them ready to disappear through the door.

“Wait!” Natalie sprinted to him, grabbing the sleeve of his hoodie as to drag him back, the same arm whipped at her, Natalie paralyzed.

“God, What is wrong with you?” the boy snapped also as a last resort.

Disinclined to, she answered timidly “I’m just trying to help.”

“With what?”

Her eyes darted between Vincent and ‘Mrs Reed’. They were so close to her now, as a result it was silence that Natalie resorted to.

“Please, do yourself a favor and stop trying. Stop trying to help, stop trying to force people to like you, just give it up already. It doesn’t make a difference if you do, but you’ll only exhaust yourself if you keep on going like this.”

“But you must listen to what I have to say.” A lump began to restrict the air from her lungs.

“No I don’t, because it doesn’t matter.” His eyes heavy with mahogany lifted to look at Bonnie. They lowered for a final moment to Natalie now.

“It never will.” Vincent went to the door, it was but a few steps away from them, he opened the gate slowly, the light from outside pierced through his shoulders. His feet froze at the border. For a second there, Natalie thought that he had changed his mind after-all, however, her assumptions were shortly proven wrong as he lunged himself into the tub of light, drowning into their warmness as he did so.

A tear traced down her face, beneath the gleam of the light, a sharp twilight dazzled through it.

“You’re always so dramatic. I don’t understand you,” Bonnie commented having heard her sob quietly.

“I know that now. I know that I was useful to you as a pair of legs are to a fish.”

“Guys can we stop?” Iva’s voice became more audible now, as her posture straightened to speak.

“I’ve done everything you wanted me to. I’ve always had your back no matter what. Am I not good enough for you?”

“I don’t think you are to anyone at all if you’re gonna put it like that.”

“What is that suppose to mean?”

“I think you know.” Bonnie had not ceased to shift her gaze from the wall all whilst she was speaking. “That’s why you have no other friends.”

“I never did in the first place.”

Bonnie scoffed at that. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Your rebelious facade is slowly slipping off. Everyone can see how desperate you are, they can sense it from a mile away. You know, you might be funny and all but at the end of the day no one wants to keep a clown around for company, they’re only good spectacle but no one wants to commit to that. Because at the end of the day there is nothing deep that anyone can relate to when it comes to you. You’re a surface level type of person, you’re a bore. Everyone can see right through it, your antics, your unwarranted comments for laughs, your desperate need to be liked. You will forever remain as you are right now, alone, obsessive and utterly unlikable.”

“oh yeah? And what about you?”

“I’m bored of you too.” Bonnie’s cheeks reddened like rotten cherries, the corners of her eyes began to shine like glass marbles.

By the time Natalie rushed to speak once more, the door banged from behind her. ‘Mrs Reed’ had already left the vicinity.

“Its enough now,” repeated Iva still as timid as ever.

“Nothing can be said without having it being held against you it seems. Nobody can handle the truth anymore. Everybody is so….so sensitive!”

The argument had come to a completion, although Bonnie was adding fuel to the fire, Natalie had long accepted defeat as soon as ‘Mrs Reed’ left. They remained the three of them in the classroom for now. In-spite of wanting to save the boy nothing was done about the situation. She was helpless.

Indeed, there is something daunting about the knowledge of intermittent doom. Such as the knowledge that Natalie was faced with in terms of the thing that is pretending to be Mrs Reed. As time went by her tremors worsened with no intention of stopping anytime sooner.

About an hour flew by and ‘Mrs Reed’ made an entrance. Vincent, as expected never came back again. It would’ve been best if she’d come up with an efficient strategy of escape during these passing moments. However, Natalie’s mind was afloat somewhere else, from the combination of the deaths and the spiteful words that was spoken to her by Bonnie. Everything came to her all at once, occupying so much space in her head that even the thought of leaving did not struck her, not once.

They sat like meek sheeps, the breeze that blew by as the lady entered made more sound than their mouths ever could during those moments. The smear was back on ‘Mrs Reeds’ thin paper lips. Bonnie did not bother to make notice of it this time, the wall was her sole comforter, with her gaze not having shifted from it.

Her violet watch was left undisturbed, ticking by itself as indication of dusk soon settling by. The hours stretched out into what seemed to be an eternity, their mouths became bland with the taste of monotony.

“Ugh…..” a groaning sigh was expressed by Bonnie. The steel legs of her chair moaned as it was pushed back from behind her knees.

“I’m going,” whispered the girl to herself out of dreary. The waves in her hair began to kink into brittle strands of wiry curls as a yawn followed whilst she stood from the table.

“No.” she could hear Natalie from the barricades of her thick hair. No attention was spared to the girl, Bonnie thought it best not to. Instead, the path towards the exit was made, with her untamed hair swaying as she marched towards certain death. Quick on her toes, Natalie sprinted to wrap her leathery fingers around Bonnie’s right arm , as if to cut off the circulation from them. The latter made a violent turn, her raven kinks sweeping up against Natalie’s nose.

Bonnie groaned as a wild feral cat would, with her teeth exposed to her opponent. This was enough to break Iva from her sleep, now being faced with the two of them tussling at the front of her desk.

“You can’t leave.”

“Why not?!” Bonnie expressed, confused by the lengths to which Natalie was going to assure that she wouldn’t step one foot out of the door. Natalie’s eyes swept to ‘Mrs Reed’ resulting in her fingers ebbing of strength, trembling as it did so. Bonnie took advantage of the situation, slipping from her grip due to it. “Because-” her whisper was cut off from another groan from Bonnie.

Iva leapt from her seat, not knowing how or when but suddenly finding herself in-between the two, taking the role of a mediator. Her arms acted like poles, separating the two from grappling.

“Guys, stop” her words were drowned out by Natalie’s and Bonnie’s bantering. They were like two feeble trees dancing in the wind.

“I said stop!” Iva’s fist connected to one of their faces, not knowing who as she threw the punch with her eyes blinded by the chaos. Inaction ensued amongst the three girls. Finally a moment to breathe from all the commotion.

Silence.

Iva’s eyes opened to see the revelation that her knuckles were dripping of sparse droplets of crimson blood, certainly originating from a foreign body. Her gaze were fixed to the person that stood right before her, hunching their back with both of their hands pressed against their face. It was Bonnie as she saw it, her nose was pouring with blood. Her cupped fingers lowered as to prove the case.

“I’m, I’m sorry,” stuttered Iva. She began to back up from the maimed victim, knowing that anytime now she’ll combust into flames.

Bonnie raced to her, passing her by to reach Natalie, she got a grip of the latter’s throat. Being strangled turned on a switch of violence inside of her too as her hands grappled through Bonnie’s strands of thick, black hair.

The tables and chairs screeched as they twirled amongst them, all whilst ‘Mrs Reed’ remained indifferent from the conflict. An odd observation that Iva finally took notice of. Natalie’s left heel lost all balance, resulting in her collapse as Bonnie’s weight followed to drag herself down onto her. She plummeted onto Natalie’s chest, the smell of death still lingering onto her from before. Repulsed, Bonnie levitated to fall on her bum, both of them sitting in opposition to one another, all sweaty and steaming with exhaustion.

Eventually, their fingers depleted of strength to clump into fists. They sat on the floor as Bonnie’s nose drenched into a river of red onto her violet shirt. Some of the blood had dripped partially onto Natalie’s cheeks as she was swaying the girls head from left to right whilst having a hold of her. Natalie’s eyes roamed over the room, only to be met with ‘Mrs Reeds’ gaze already pinned at the both of them, those blank sterling irises pierced into their skin. Especially Bonnie as blood dripped fruitfully from her nose, the sweet aroma intoxicating the cannibal into action. Her seat was abandoned entirely as her torso stretched on into a stiff stance. Natalie was too hesitant either, the soles of her feet garnered enough strength to stand up.

“I want to……. I think that I want to go home now-” she spoke out loud. Hoping that mercy from ‘Mrs Reed’ would be spared to them for what was about to come.

“Its not even eight yet,” Bonnie answered with a vain snarl traced around her lips. Her bare arm lifted as to show proof of time by checking the watch on her wrist. “See!” She levitated it further towards Natalie as to shove it in her face from where she sat on the floor.

“The lens is broken, you can barely read the thing,” interrupted Iva as she too had her eyes on the watch.

A sigh escaped from Bonnie's lips, heavy and tiresome it was. She spoke whilst panting:

“My parents will be picking me up at eight anyways, unlike you!” Iva’s lips pressed onto one another as her brows lowered. Only then was the confrontation able to come to an end. “Great,” groaned Bonnie at the sight of the sinewy lady towering over her desk. “Now. we’ll most definitely have to come back here next week. All because of you.” Bonnie turned to Natalie.

Her cue for another argument was ignored by Natalie, not that she was actively trying to at that time, but little did Bonnie knew how messy things were about to be. Natalie’s pupils followed as ‘Mrs Reed’ made an approach, slithering her way to the centre front of the class.

“I, I think we need to leave.” Natalie’s voice shook into fine whispers. Her heel followed the path from behind her, backing up enough until her palms rested on the cold, harsh surface of the wall at the end of the room.

“The detention hour isn’t over yet.” Bonnie took forever to reply, her aggression slowly folding into genuine worry for the girl, although she made sure to hide that fact. Iva being attentive to Natalie’s sudden deflection reverted her gaze towards to where she was looking at.

‘Mrs Reeds’ limbs began to expand into thin tall sticks. Iva watched dizzily as the unmasking took place. Her eyes turning pale as ‘Mrs Reed’s’ skull flattened into a horizontal oblong shape. Her eyes loosening in their sockets as it did so, they too expanded in size, resembling that of two ochre moons as her corneas darkened in shade.

Bonnie had yet to see the revelation from behind her. The lights from above began to blink in rapid rhythmic motions. She remained sat as she saw Iva backing up also. Natalie stood firm at the wall as if she would have dug through the concrete with her bare hands if she could.

Over the laurel beige wall that beheld the girl arose a scrawny shadow of great height, with limbs that fell on both sides, spreading like a kite. Having seen it, Bonnie’s jaw dropped as a stray of wind flung dust into her mouth.

The lights from above palpitated just as their hearts did. Bonnie finally turned to see the unfolding with her very eyes. Those dreadful wrists that bent over into a pair of minted clamps, the side of her lips ripping open to reveal two cutting pincers and her torso forever extending to reach the ceiling. The anomaly’s lanky frame cast down on them.

The whites of their eyes were filled with it as their heavy heads flung back to sweep their frightful gaze over ‘Mrs Reed’s’ sudden boost in length. Her neck brushed against the ceiling, bending into a ninety degree angle. All whilst silence confiscated them. Not a gasp was uttered, not a wince, only three fallen jaws as their chins ascended to face the humanoid insect. Its tongue, ruby and thin, twisted viciously against the rims of her razor teeth as spit swirled onto the floor into ripples of thick , translucent puddles. All of their backs felt the cold embrace of the wall as her human skin was torn off to reveal the physique of a mantis from within. One of them screamt; Natalie was unable to identify which one to be exact, but she knew that she was next to follow. The winds that surrounded them spun laps of circles through their yarns of hair. The room suddenly being immersed in a vortex as the wind slapped against their faces. Bonnie had joined the duo by now, crammed in-between the two as the creature cornered them. Natalie being on the right side, facing the hallway peered towards the exit. The door was shut at that moment, but by the currents of the wind it was able to crack open slightly, a stream of luminous white seeped through. Natalie’s ears at that moment plunged into a muted silence as if her surroundings had turned into a vacuum, only the thumping of her heart was audible. Her lungs expanded like sponges, safety was not too far off, it was her feeble legs that wasn’t too reliable at that time. Not knowing if she’ll trip on her ankles if ever she made a run for it. Nevertheless, the soles of her feet pressed onto the rigid concrete floor, her heart battling amongst the cages of her ribs as she could taste the bitterness of anticipation swirling in her mouth, preparing to launch herself beneath the arms of the creature.

Thump, thump, thump. The blood from her chest pumped forcefully to fill her gaping veins. Time was running short, the creature was head on to them as its pincers clamped into conspicuous claps. Natalie needed to act urgently. An influx of sound punched through her eardrums, those were the screams from Iva. The world returning back to its normal state as her feet sprinted from the ground, her body pushing onwards through the barrier of wind, luckily dodging the grasp of the insect. She bolted to the door with her soles on fire as the door stretched on just out of her reach. Something splashed over the right side of her face, it was warm and thick in consistency, some of it fell into her mouth as her tongue was tainted by the metallic taste of blood. She stopped in her tracks, having thought that she had been maimed unknowingly, her face turned behind her, the walls was painted in the same crimson pigment. All four of Iva’s appendages had been torn of from her torso, the beast was feasting out of her chest, chirping like a cricket as it indulged in it. Bonnie was unharmed, she stood knees touching, with her palms open to her sight. She was soaked completely. Her hair fell over to her tailbone like dark stretched elastic. Teary eyed Natalie went for the door, stood in the hall with her head peeking in through the cracks of it, imploring Bonnie to follow in some way. With that being said the latter lowered their wrists having heard a faint whisper from the front, they trembled like salt shakers as they hung before her all red and sticky.

Bonnie ran to her. The mantis aroused by the sound of pattering feet, disposed of the corpse as it raced at full tilt towards the girl. Petrified Natalie abandoned her fully, her vision blurring as her feet carried her into the hallway ahead.

In the hallway, the ceramic tiling were bleached in flat, washy light as the soles of Natalie’s rubber sneaker squealed on to them. Sounding like an empty basketball court. The distance did not make any difference, the walls followed her the further she went.

A sharp corner to the right was cut, shortly after, she made it to the restroom doors, Natalie bolted right pass them. Her ribs began to throb with a puncturing pain the more her lungs expanded to breath, but even so the mantis was tailing her, the walls reverberated by its massive body plummeting into it from cutting the corner. As long as she could get far from the creature, a moments of rest could be assured. However, this wasn’t coming true anytime sooner. The creature was approaching with no intent of slowing down or stopping in its tracks. The tube lights from above shook such as the earth did. Suffering an epileptic stroke as it blinked endlessly. The pace of its blinking increased resulting in a blackout as the entirety of the school was swallowed in darkness. It was about seven pm by then. The lifeless moon ceased to shine not even a grain of light over their small hometown, let alone the school ground. The only guidance that Natalie had was by the illumination of the mantis's ochre eyes, flashing over her like a dim torch fire.

The race persisted.

The path paved before her was followed until hopefully her legs were powerful enough to outrun the creature. The walls bounced in and out of itself, stretching further into an eternal abyss as hisses from the mantis erupted.

A pair of legs were no better than four, six, as the creature began to make use of the two at the front as a way to increase its pace. Its pincers fully ripe with blood as it chased on. In some circumstances, the mantis’s legs would slip over the seeping crimson liquid. But even so, not enough to make the it crumble to the floor.

A few steps in and a metallic sonorous pound echoed through the chamber of the hallway. Natalie ceased to turn towards the commotion, that’ll only slow her down, nonetheless, as the path before her dimmed into a shady black, it was certain that the insect had collapsed on itself, slipping into the neighbouring lockers as it did so.

An advantage that was taken by the girl for a grand acceleration. Running further along the depths of the school.

Eyes stinging, Natalie was able to flee from the pursuer. The drums settled in her chest pummeled into a thousand songs. Moreover, with her sense of sight partially depleted, the girl followed the school’s pathway utterly through memory, which in itself was an unreliable navigator as Natalie could barely remember what she had for breakfast this morning, let alone track a dark hallway through nothing but her sense of touch and spatial awareness. But even so, she figured that brushing her fingers against the lockers and the wall as she pass by would lead her eventually to somewhere where safety was guaranteed, that or a rogue window somewhere nearby. That is if she was lucky enough.

The cold metal gate of the lockers were traced amongst her fingerprints. Eventually a slight dent threw her off, making her lean further into the surface she was pressing against, which so happened to be the wall now. This came in handy to make her realize that a corner was not too far off, Natalie slid amongst the ceramic tiled wall until inevitably she was dropped off towards its end. Taking a sharp corner to the right.

The frantic girl dashed into the abyss right in front of her, the blood in her veins heating up as relief began to trace itself over her face. Natalie persisted in the race, tears dripping down her face, her legs lightening as she abandoned the wall completely. Blazing through the hallway like a comet through space, until her face bashed against a harsh solid surface. A sudden collide unforeseen by her brought her weight back to the heels of her feet as she fell flat on her bum. Her heart sunk into the crater of her chest……….. realizing that the path had lead her to a dead end.

“No…” Her feeble lips quivered. Truly in times like these desperation seems to be the only resort. Frightened, Natalie swayed upwards to her knees, caving her body into a fetal position as she finally began to bawl her eyes out in-between the spaces of her arms. Sobbing sharply as if she was on the verge of barfing up her own lung.

A distant hiss peeked her attention. The mantis had recovered from its set back. Panicked, Natalie ran up against the wall once again, as if that would’ve done anything to save her life. After several attempts of digging through the wall with her fingers, the girl turned her face towards the path where she came from. Nothing but bleak darkness ahead, contemplating to whether or not she should follow through to her newly crafted plan. The sound of light pattering feet clapped amongst

the tunnel way of the hall. The decision was made in an instant as she bolted into the sea of murky black, returning around the corner from where she came from.

If her mental map was reliable enough, Natalie could've swore that just beside her laid an assembly of lockers. Those cold rigid fingers stretched out to feel their smooth metal gate. One closest to the corner was identified. The creature’s approach grew more audible. Quickly, Natalie felt the rims of where the knob was. Gaining access to the locker as it creaked open, she shut the gate behind her, being cautious to not erupt a sound as her coffin closed to encase her.

The smell of old dried gum plastered from inside the locker gate arose. Refusing to take a further whiff out of it, both of her hands clasped to form a barrier around her nose.

It was quiet for a while. Although the air from her lungs was begging to be released, Natalie refused to. Her eyelids began to swell with warm tears. Trembling with agitation as a distance walking sound echoed through into the hall where her locker resided.

“I wanna go home…..please take me home….” pleaded Natalie internally. Her tears gushing through like hot molten lava, tracing down her neck until her top was totally drenched. That’s when it hit her, her clothes were still reeking of rot. If that’s the case then tracking her down wouldn’t be too hard for the creature. She panicked even further. Shutting her eyes completely as to wake up from this nightmare.

“Nat!” a farmiliar voice whispered from the hallway, Natalie’s eyes opened at the sound of it.

“Bonnie?. No!, it can’t be…….. you’re , you’re gone,” these words slipped from her mouth out loud, Natalie was quick to recover them by clasping her palms over her lips, but it was already too late for that.

“I got out,” Bonnie responded. “I followed after you made the exit. I went the other way.”

“What about Iva?”

“.…… what about it?” the indifference in her voice was uncanny. Subsequently, the sound of it was enough to make Natalie collapse as a whole.

She sobbed into the interior surface of the locker gate, sliding her forehead against it as her fingers danced in unwanted motions.

Bonnie was silent on the other hand. Everything was immersed in silence at that time, all except for the girl violently weeping into the night. Her cries bouncing off into the walls of the school. Painful, sharp, tiring the longer it took for her to get over it.

To say that the girl had lost herself completely would be deceptive. She knew that Bonnie was probably dead, although accepting that fact required something greater, something even she at that age was too young to comprehend. Helpless, the words from her mind broke once again through her lips.

“All I wanted was a friend, I never wanted to make fun of Mrs Reed, I never wanted to be so desperate.” Her throat began to tighten “And you were right….. no one is ever going to love me, but I don’t want to be alone anymore. I don’t want to be so envious of others, I just want to be happy, but it’s impossible for me to, and I don’t know why.” She sobbed continually. Its vigorous sound resonating all throughout. Whether that was the empty neighbouring classrooms, through the desolate spaces of the hallway, from the restroom and inside the coffin of the locker where her head rested.

“You don’t have be so alone anymore.” Bonnie’s voice eventually joined into the cacophony of cries. The sobbing gradually decreased as Natalie heard her speak. Her fingers ceased to tremble, they were now stiff and compliant as she stared onto them with a decision to make at the back of her head.

Her lips quivered as she asked the question:

“.……… is it. Is it still out there?…..” The response came with a delay.

“I don’t think so.”

“Come here. I need to see you.”

“No. You come out.” A subtle silence haunted the hallway. An influx of air infiltrated Natalie’s nostrils.

“Bonnie’s gone….” she thought to herself.

“Everyone's gone…….but how can I be sure that she’s dead, what if by chance?-” She completed the piecing of the puzzle internally.

It was a stretch to say that a sudden burst of bravery had taken host over Natalie, at the end of the day she was still haunted by terror. Nevertheless, her decision was made.

“.…….Alright,” muttered the girl. “I’m stepping out……just wait for me, okay…. then, we’ll make a run for it.” As before, she was left unresponded to. However the anticipation from the other side was felt by Natalie.

The metal gate clicked open, a frigid breeze whistled through the door crack, caressing Natalie’s face, embracing all of its curves. Her eyes lowered at the tip of her toes, deciphering if this was really the best decision to make momentarily, they wobbled back and forth, until eventually the barrier was broken as she forced herself out into the dark, somber hallway. Exposed and bare to her surroundings, impossible to not taken notice of like a camel in the middle of a city street.

No sight of Bonnie anywhere, I mean she wouldn’t even be able to see her if she wanted to. Nonetheless, her presence was not felt anywhere, it really seemed that she was in that desolate hallway all alone.

“Bonnie?” Whispered Natalie. An amalgamation of spine chilling hisses echoed through from behind her. A daunting beam of yellow spotlighted over her head. Within its warmth the girl stood frozen, unable to utter a scream. Her neck slowly twisted, the bones from them cracking like twigs snapping into two.

There, towered the mantis with its pincers saturated with sweet scented blood, Natalie’s gaze ascended high enough that her eyes began to roll over into the back of her skull, only to be faced with two ochre sphere’s glowing over her body, its pupils were dotted and bloodshot red. One blew in one direction while the other faced in the exact opposite.

Mouth gaping, the last fourteen years of the girls life flashed before her very own eyes as the mimic whispered into the voice of her long deceased friend. These last words being spoken to her:

“I always knew you could do it…..”

The end.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, presented by Hashtag Kalakar, celebrates the art of storytelling and poetry, bringing together talented writers from diverse backgrounds. This platform offers participants the chance to showcase their creative expressions, fostering a community of literary enthusiasts. With no invented prizes or rankings, the competition focuses on highlighting the unique voices and narratives of each submission, encouraging writers to push the boundaries of their imagination.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Terissa Vital for sharing "After-school activities" with us as part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Her story captivates readers with its chilling ambiance and thought-provoking themes. We appreciate her contribution to the competition and look forward to seeing more of her writing in the future. Thank you, Terissa, for your creativity and storytelling prowess.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.